Anurag Kashyap recalls going to ‘de-addiction centre’, reveals he couldn’t meet daughter Aaliyah for a year after divorcing first wife | Bollywood News

Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap, who broke out in the 1990s as a co-writer on Ram Gopal Varma’s film Satya, marked his directorial debut with the film Paanch, which remains unreleased due to censorship issues. He then made the film Black Friday, which which was held for two years until its eventual release in 2007. The same year, he released another film titled No Smoking, which more or less was inspired his struggles. After all these years, Anurag Kashyap believes it all happened for the best. “If my films hadn’t been banned, I would have been an arrogant filmmaker who would have been finished in 2003,” said the filmmaker.
Anurag Kashyap recently attended an event in Annapurna College of Film and Media, where he conducted a masterclass. While teaching the essentials of filmmaking, Anurag shared various personal life experiences. 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 de-addiction centre, after which I discovered new details about my writing process.”
After three of his initial films didn’t pan out as expected, the project that saved his career was an animated film, The Return of Hanuman. Anurag said, “I was separated at that time and I had not met my daughter for a year. My way of connecting with her was making an animated film called Return of Hanuman. The movie saved me.”
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Anurag recalled all the bad experiences he faced at the start of his career. However, he said he is grateful for how things unfolded for him, including the ban on his films and all the delays.
He shared, “When I came to the film industry, it was largely controlled families. A lot of people came to the film industry, they couldn’t get in, but I did. The reason being, I posed no threat. I was not asking them for anything in return, except the opportunity to be included. 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, ghost writing, and getting just three meals a day, I learnt more than anybody can teach you.”
He joked people took credit for all his poor work. “I am so grateful for that. 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 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.”Story continues below this ad
After The Return of Hanuman, Anurag Kashyap directed the modern day adaptation of Dev D, which was a commercial success. This was followed films like Gulaal, Gangs of Wasseypur, and Ugly, making him a prominent name in the industry. His daughter Aaliyah tied the knot last year, and Anurag has spoken often about how emotional the occasion was for him. He has also expressed regret about having not spent enough time with her when she was growing up.