On making films : Whether you’re a complete beginner or an indie filmmaker, & you only had to watch one video to not just motivate yourself but also learn practical advices about pursuing a filmmaking career in India, watch Anurag’s Josh Talks video. There’s so much that I have learnt from it not just as a budding filmmaker but also an entrepreneur, since making a film is not much different from running a venture. Anurag’s own filmmaking experiences teach you how you can make great films on a budget by making prudent, calculated & mindful creative & financial choices. It also gives you a better insight into just how much of a gamble filmmaking is, & how adaptable you need to be to survive it.

If you want to make a film, it’s your dream, only You have to pursue it: “The world doesn’t owe it to you, the system doesn’t owe it to you, your family doesn’t owe it to you, only you owe it to yourself”. I’ve held on to these words ever since I heard them for the first time & I keep coming back to them. Once you learn more about the kind of journey Anurag has had, from waiting tables at Prithvi for free in order to be closer to the theatre artists, to being one of the most sought-after writers in the industry, to struggling to release his early films & yet persevering, you can truly appreciate how much these words mean to him & the deeply personal space they’re coming from.

Staying true to your voice : One of my biggest takeaways from the various Anurag Kashyap interviews over the years (including the two that I have done with him) is the paramount need to stay true to yourself : to your ideas, your voice, your worldview. It can be a difficult thing in a world that’s designed to maintain its order & power structures, but it should be non-negotiable for you if you want to keep your artistic & personal integrity intact. Anurag has stood up to some of the most powerful people in the industry in order to stand by his own writing style, his creative choices, and refused to do things that he doesn’t align with, even if it’s for projects as big as Kal Ho Naa Ho & Tere Naam.

On INDIE/LOW-BUDGET filmmaking: Another video that should be essential viewing for aspiring filmmakers, especially in India, is the Making of Gangs Of Wasseypur. That one YouTube video will teach you so much more about making films on a budget than you’ll find in any book on cinema. You learn from Anurag’s filmmaking style that cinema exists in innovation, thinking on your feet, being patient & coming up with solutions. This video, Anurag’s films and all his interviews point to just one thing : cinema exists around us. It isn’t just about building huge sets, it’s about finding inspiration around us & using the resources that you have at your disposal to make films, rather than waiting for more expensive resources to come to you.

Importance of Watching More Films: Anurag may be single handedly responsible for directly or indirectly encouraging thousands of people in the country to watch more films, diversify their film-watching habits, discuss films with more people. He constantly talks about his favourite films, his favourite filmmakers, recommends them on his social media handles, maintains a letterboxd account. We look at his DVD collection & are reminded of the beauty of cinema in its physical form. He’s not biased towards any particular form or style of cinema. He watches & talks about everything from Karan Johar to Vetrimaaran to Fritz Lang to PTA, like a true blue student of the movies. Listen to my podcast with him to see how he views movies as documents of their times, almost like approaching them as history in order to get a more evolved understanding of different complex subjects.

Importance of Speaking Up Against Oppression: Anurag reminds us how important it is for an artist to challenge archaic power structures, take a stand against prejudice, and speak up against oppressive forces. Whether it’s about fighting censorship, or about questioning the government, Anurag is one of the very few artists in the country who has never been scared of it, & has further given so many others like us the courage to do it too. His politics is also visible in his films, & in fact uses cinema as a medium to express his angst against the system & start important conversations. He told me on my podcast, “The greatest cinema in history has come during times of unrest & oppressive regimes”.

Importance of Collaboration & Giving Opportunities To New Talent: Honestly, it still baffles me how Anurag manages to be involved with so many films every year, not just writing or directing but also presenting and producing so many films, mostly supporting newer filmmaking talent. So many of his former collaborators are now excellent, established filmmakers themselves. And if we start talking about the amount of acting talent that Anurag has introduced to the country, we’d begin to feel so indebted to him. Anurag is a living testament to the true meaning of filmmaking - collaboration. Working with the right set of people, trusting them with their work & coming together to create something that’s truly special.

Chaos is Beautiful: Finally, another one of my biggest takeaways from Anurag’s work is that there’s a lot of beauty that exists in the middle of chaos, & this chaos can sometimes be essential to the process of making art. Well, he talks about his own filmmaking process but it’s something that I can personally connect with a lot. Not just in work but for a lot of aspects of my life, the greatest things have happened to me when I just gave in to the chaos, & instead of planning everything down to the T, I let myself go with the flow & improvised when it was necessary. I always used to think there was something wrong with me, but eventually found some belonging in Anurag’s art.