"Hindi cinema is currently controlled by 2nd gen filmmakers who have grown up in trial rooms," says Dobaraa director Anurag Kashyap

Anurag Kashyap is returning to the big screen after a 4-year gap with the science fiction mystery film Dobaaraa, starring Taapsee Pannu. The filmmaker has grown in stature over the years not just as an auteur but also by virtue of his candor and a rare quality to be unabashed and outspoken in his speech. 

In his recent interview with film critic Baradwaj Rangan for Galatta Plus, Kashyap spoke of the evolving face of cinema across the world and in particular about the current plight of Hindi cinema. 

As someone who has been privy to the working of all the different film industries in India, Anurag Kashyap's perspective on the matter takes into account the cultural factors that govern the quality of cinema and why good films always must reflect the reality of the outside world.

"Down South, you see filmmakers emerging from all walks of life, all cultures. I was part of the jury when Maanagaram came out (in 2017) and you wouldn't have imagined that the same Lokesh Kanagaraj would grow to become what he is today. And the industry (referring to the Tamil Film Industry) is such that people from all walks of life will continue to come in but that's not the case with Hindi cinema." 

"Here, the cinema is controlled essentially by the second-generation filmmakers who have largely grown up in trial rooms, those who haven't lived life. So, they are referencing is based on cinema (and not real life), and whatever they do not see on the screen, wouldn't qualify as cinema to them," said the Dobaaraa director, enunciating that one must always encourage "outsiders" to speak of their worlds and realities.

And speaking of the ongoing debacle in Hindi cinema, especially concerning big production houses like YRF (Yash Raj Films) which has delivered consecutive box office failures such as Samrat Prithviraj, Jayeshbhai Jordaar, and the Ranbir Kapoor starrer Shamshera, Kashyap added that the same 'trial room effect' is apparent in their approach.

"You take a story and you want to make a Pirates of the Caribbean out of it so it becomes a Thugs of Hindostan. You take another story and wish that to be like Mad Max: Fury Road, and it becomes Shamshera. In essence, you are not making the original root of the idea into a film because you can never conceive that as cinema so your first reaction to any story is "This is so good, let's make it like Mad Max: Fury Road, let's not spare any cost". 

The same Shamshera would have worked about 2-3 years ago but a lot has changed in the meantime - now people are exposed. When they watch a Squid Game, they understand Korean culture because cinema is always a 'Soft' cultural ambassador of any country. What soft culture are we propagating through Hindi films? Our films don't represent us at all...". 

Anurag Kashyap's Dobaaraa is the official remake of the 2018 Spanish film Mirage. The Hindi version stars Taapsee Pannu, Rahul Bhat, Pavail Gulati, Saswata Chatterjee, and others - the film releases on August 19.