New Delhi, Jan 30 (UNI) Known for making cult films with realistic and strong story lines, filmmaker Anurag Kashyap who is now all set for the release of romantic drama ‘Almost Pyaar with DJ Mohabbat’, says he doesn’t like fake love stories.
The new-age romantic drama ‘Almost Pyaar with DJ Mohabbat’ features Alaya F and debutant Karan Mehta. The film also marks Kashyap’s return to the romantic musical genre, with Amit Trivedi, post their successful collaborations in movies like ‘DevD’, ‘Manmarziyaan’ among others. The film captures the essence of love and longing in two parallel universes depicting the Gen Z love era in small and big cities.
In an exclusive interaction with UNI, Anurag talks about the movie, the casting, box office race and #boycottbollywood trend.
“I like realistic concepts. I don’t like fake love stories. I don’t watch them, where even houses are fake, the world they create is fake. I like honesty and realism. The story of ‘Almost Pyaar…’ is extremely relatable to today’s generation, youth and parents,” the 50-year-old director said.
Talking about the female characters and their narrative in his movies, Anurag said that he had the spotlight on women characters, long back. “Like ‘Gulaal’, ‘Dev D’, I just like stories where characters honestly and truly represent themselves. The story which affects and resonates with me, that’s what I
try to tell,” he said.
Is Alaya’s character is also ‘raw’ ?, the ‘Bombay Velvet’ director says, “yes absolutely. She is raw and playing her age. Alaya and Karan are playing their age. Whatever they want to tell they are navigating that. In village they are fighting with different issues, and in the city they are fighting with
different expectations. They are more independent in the city, as compared to those in villages. Both are fighting with the expectations of the parents.”
On how the casting for the movie happened, Anurag said,”I needed young actors, who had a very wide range. My daughter Aaliyah found Karan. She showed me a short film of Karan, I saw his range, I had put him in the workshop, and worked hard on him. For Alaya, she had a good range already.
What I saw in Alaya, now the world has already seen in her two films. I got the actors who fulfilled all the requirements and range, so I started working with them.”
When asked if he only works with the star kids, Anurag said, “Alaya comes from the industry, and when I first met her I told that I don’t make such movies, and I was about to send her back. But when I saw her work, I stopped and gave it a thought. All the actors are new in my movies. Nawazuuddin Siddqui, Pankaj Tripathi, Manoj Bajpayee all were new faces, and not star faces.”
On why he opted for a theatrical release instead of OTT, the ‘Mukkabaaz’ director said, “These are two young faces. They have worked hard for the past five years. For my personal profit shall I destroy their careers, by releasing on OTT? When a new actor makes his/her debut on OTT, then he/she is
considered OTT or television actor only. It’s important to send the film to the theatre, although the film has got ‘word of mouth’, we know the movie will be relatable to the audiences. We are not here to break Pathaan’s record. We are a small film, and we are not competing with big movies. The
people will make it a ‘word of mouth’, it will grow, and then will be released on the OTT. Those movies do well on OTT that are appreciated on the big screens.”
Whether he is a part of the box office (BO) race, Anurag said, “I have never been a part of the box office race. It’s been 30 years for me in the industry, that race is only created by the media. The BO race started like a PR at the time of ‘Ghajini’. And now the entire world is into it. Whatever a movie earns on the box office, that is not only the parameter for a film to be successful. There is an afterlife to the movies. All my movies are earning till date, whether on OTT or other mediums. Box office race is the race of the perception of the audiences. And that race is on our big stars. They have to deliver that, because their film is made on such a large budget. The entire cost of my film is even less than the fees of Pathaan’s director. So from which angle shall I run that race?”
If ‘Pathaan’ has broken the jinx of boycott trend, Anurag said, “there was no jynx. That was created by the media and social media. Nothing was boycotted and everything was rubbish. People go and see their favourite stars. And ‘Pathaan’ has proved that. People don’t report real issues, and just come up
with cooked up stories. And if you make stories about the film industry and cricketers, everyone listens to it. Right now in the country, the media has a big responsibility to fulfill.”
The film is touted to be Anurag Kashyap’s ode to modern love. Presented by Zee Studios under Good Bad Films Production, it is slated to release on February 3.
