Anurag Kashyap reveals why he will not make a cinematic universe for Gangs of Wasseypur: ‘I have been cheated’
Indian cinema, much like Hollywood, is delving into the creation of cinematic universes and while Rohit Shetty is way ahead of the pack with his cop universe, fans have been wanting to see a cinematic universe created with the characters of Anurag Kashyap’s Gangs of Wasseypur. In a recent interview, Anurag was asked about the same and the director shared why he is not interested in the creation of any such universe.
Kashyap revealed that the studio of the film, Viacom 18, apparently ‘cheated’ him as they still claim that the film was a loss making proposition for them. In a chat with Pinkvilla, the DevD director shared that the studio sold the film to themselves and claimed to not have made any money on it. Anurag said, “Viacom made the film. They have their own company Colors, they sold it to Colors. Then they said ‘we haven’t made any money, Colors has made money’, then whose company is Colors?”
Anurag revealed that the two films – Gangs of Wassypur Part 1 and 2 – were made on a combined budget of Rs 16.5 crores and as per the studio, the film is still at a loss of Rs 8 crore. He said, “Nobody got any money from that film. And on that film, one studio earned so much money. They ask us, ‘extend our rights, let’s do a spin-off’, I tell them, why do you want to make a sequel of a flop film?” The Dobaaraa director added, “The studio has cheated its creators and the actors, and everybody involved with the film.”
The Gulaal director shared that the film’s IP is held jointly the studio and Anurag himself and that is why he does not let them do anything with the film. “They want to exploit it,” he said. “So for me, that film is a very sore point with the way the studio treated us and the film. And continues to exploit it,” he added.
Anurag added that he pulled in a lot of favours during the shooting of the film, and without those, the film could not have been made on a tight budget. He also shared that Richa Chaddha got paid only Rs 2 lakh, and Huma Qureshi was paid only Rs 75,000 for the film. “My thing is I am not going to go to my actors and tell them to do it for me,” he shared.
Anurag mentioned that there is only one condition that will push him to create something in the Gangs of Wasseypur universe. “Till all my actors don’t come together and say let’s do another one, I am not going to do it and I will not allow anyone to do it. Because that exploitation is something that I just do not stand for,” said.
Gangs of Wasseypur recently completed 10 years.
