Naman Ramachandran Celebrated Indian filmmaker Anurag Kashyap was in vintage free, frank and forthright form at a masterclass in Toronto on Sunday. “I have a massive problem with authority and authority has problems with me,” was one of the many nuggets from Kashyap, whose very first film “Paanch” (2003) was banned in India and whose subsequent work has been the subject of domestic scrutiny while being celebrated both at home and globally.
Kashyap’s cop noir “Kennedy,” which had its world premiere at Cannes earlier this year, is on an extended festival run. It opened the 12th edition of BMO International Film Festival of South Asia (IFFSA), where he delivered the masterclass.
Kashyap was in conversation with festival patron, acclaimed filmmaker Anup Singh (“The Song of Scorpions”). Unlike masterclasses that look back at the filmmaker’s oeuvre, Singh chose instead to look at the broad themes that have informed Kashyap’s work over the years that include “Gangs of Wasseypur” (2012), “Dev.D” (2009) and Netflix series “Sacred Games” (2018).
Among the facts that emerged during the masterclass was that all characters in the Kashyap universe are derived from real people. “I don’t think till date I have ever written a character, which is stemming from my imagination – every single one is based on a real person,” Kashyap said.
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