Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap recently shared insights into his personal and professional struggles, including his battle with alcoholism, career setbacks, and the challenges of navigating Bollywood as an outsider.
The Gangs of Wasseypur director recently conducted a masterclass during which he revealed that during a turbulent phase in his career, he struggled with alcohol addiction and even sought treatment at a de-addiction center.
Reflecting on this period, he said, “When I was dealing with a lot of things in the industry, I was also an alcoholic for a brief period of time. I was an addict and I went to a de-addiction center, after which I discovered new details about my writing process.”
Following the disappointment of three initial films that didn’t work out as expected, Anurag credited an animated film, The Return of Hanuman, as the project that helped revive his career.
“I was separated at that time and I had not met my daughter for a year. My way of connecting with her was by making an animated film called Return of Hanuman. The movie saved me,” he stated.
Anurag was first married to film editor Aarti Bajaj, with whom he has a daughter, Aaliyah Kashyap, and they divorced in 2009. He later married actress Kalki Koechlin, and they divorced in 2015.
The director also opened up about the early years of his career, when the film industry was largely dominated by film families. He recalled how many aspiring filmmakers struggled to break into the industry, but he managed to get in because he posed ‘no threat’ to the existing power structure.
“I didn’t ask for credit, or money. I was just happy that I was getting an opportunity to work on a film. So, because I posed no threat to anyone, I was allowed to hang around. And in those three years of working without credit, ghostwriting, and getting just three meals a day, I learned more than anybody can teach you.”
Despite facing bans and delays in his career, Anurag expressed gratitude for those setbacks, believing they shaped him into a better filmmaker. He noted that people took credit for his poor work, which ultimately benefited him.
“I tell people, I am so grateful that I was banned for seven years. If I had gotten a chance to show everything to everyone in that angry state of mind, I would have been such an arrogant filmmaker. I would have been done by 2003. Life has humbled me. I am grateful for whatever I have lost, the movies that were banned… It really doesn’t matter because there is learning in everything,” the filmmaker added.
A few days back, Anurag announced that he has moved out of Mumbai after being “disappointed” and “disgusted” by the film industry, stating that the joy of filmmaking has been “sucked out.”
