Months ago, Anurag Kashyap made headlines for giving a big shout-out to Animal director Sandeep Reddy Vanga. Now, in an interview with Zoom TV, the Gangs Of Wasseypur director explained why he defended Sandeep Reddy Vanga and criticised the “toxicity” in the industry. Anurag said, “I like the guy (Sandeep). I have no problem with him.” He continued, “Unlike a lot of people in the industry who pretend to be someone they are not, he is honest. The former kind, I think, is even more toxic. But Vanga is an honest man. I don’t like anything more than honesty, no matter what others’ issues with honesty are. I love talking to him.”
A month back, in a new episode of his daughter Aaliyah Kashyap’s podcast Young, Dumb & Anxious, Anurag was questioned, “What in the world was the Sandeep Reddy Vanga post?” Justifying himself, Anurag Kashyap said, “I met him, I like him. I like the guy. I’ve had questions of my own and I wanted to talk to him about his film (Animal). I invited him and I had a long five-hour conversation and I like the guy.”
Responding to her father’s statement, Aaliyah Kashyap said, “Yeah, so I understand that you are allowed to like a guy. The problem I had and I think a lot of other people had, was the caption of the post, where you promoted him as someone and the movie and talked about that which I was very not happy about because I actually saw Animal and called you, immediately after and ranted about what a horrible misogynistic movie it was and how much I hated it. And you agreed with me and then a week later I open Instagram and I see a post from my father, promoting a man I was b******g about.”
To this Anurag Kashyap said, “No, but it is like…I have always believed in talking to people. So you were very young when your father was cancelled like that. After Dev D (2009)…after all my films. I was supposed to be untouchable. I was supposed to be the guy that everybody said, ‘Manhoos hai. Don’t make a film with him. Whatever he touches doesn’t release.’ I was cancelled after Dev D by a lot of people, saying that was the ‘misogynistic thing…The same thing happened after Gangs Of Wasseypur (2012). Even though my characters had agencies, everything like that. So, what happens is I have often seen people isolating someone, attacking someone and that is not the way to be.”
In his post about Sandeep Reddy Vanga, Anurag Kashyap had written: “Had a great evening with Sandeep Reddy Vanga. The most misunderstood, judged and reviled Filmmaker at the moment. To me, he is the most honest, vulnerable and lovely human being. And I really don’t give a f*** what anyone thinks of him or his film. I wanted to meet the man and I had questions and he answered everything I asked of him about his film that I actually saw twice.”
Read the complete note here:
Released last year in December, Animal made whopping earnings at the box office. Directed by Sandeep Reddy Vanga, the film features Ranbir Kapoor, Bobby Deol, Anil Kapoor, Rashmika Mandanna, and Triptii Dimri among others.
