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exactly..
who am I? I in capital..I walked into Ruby Tuesday at the infinity mall and there was this man.. i never found out who?.. and he said “Finally” and i looked at him like Travis bickle looked into the mirror and asked “you talking to me”.. only difference being i wasn’t carrying any guns..
mr. anurag kashyap, the man who thinks he knows it all, well do you?
do i know you?
you are a big man sir, you know nobody, you teach yashraj how to make films, you tell khalid mohammad how to review films, everyone knows you, but may i ask sir, who exactly you think you are beyond being a frustrated ranter?
what is a ranter?
you, the one who rants..
as in rave and rant?
as in just rant..
ok..[waiting for what's gonna come next]
i read your blogs..
thank you..
have you ever given it a thought that you might need help?
yes, i need it all …

Let me say it straight out..this is not a review , like my thoughts on metro were not a review..just my opinion..
Just saw ek Chaalis ki last local, got back and was curious to see how the critics have reacted to it..Guess its time for me to apologise to khalid mohammad for he saw, what I knew he would, but will not accept it or say it.. I came back prepared that he would have trashed it.. I need to be less opinionated about him..
Hardboiled bollywood..is what I would call it.. I am more curious to see how the country reacts to this film.. but hats off to courageous Sanjay khanduri for pushing the envelope, for he really pushes it far..a film set in two and a half hours, real time, the craziest characters you don’t want to cross path with, all new faces, incredible actors, doing a song with …

1.Brilliant, A true metropolis film, not a fake yashraj take on it, a little too neat but yet real..
2.What gives me a kick is that a film with Shilpa, Sharman, KK, irrfan , konkona, about love life etc, kicks Tara rum pum in its ass.. love is more real, conversations more real .. this is how love stories would be made in the future..if not then God save “YRF”..
3.Bombay of Metro looks better than New York of KANK..Former is money well spent, latter is money down the shitter..
4.Ronnie Screwwala is the only wise man standing..
5.UTV is who I would lay my bets on..
6.The way the songs were structured , was original, yet kind of reminded me of Head On..
7. that one tilted frame when KK takes his daughter to the doc and the lift door shuts, and shilpa leans against the wall, sticks out like a sore thumb …

Finally .. A nightmare of a process is over.. after three months in the editing room, we have it locked.. we missed the Cannes deadline .. we haven’t yet announced the poster contest winner.. we missed a lot else.. so much for telling everyone that it will be a hundred minute film.. I ended making a 160 minute film.. its so painful to cut out your favourite shots.. its so difficult to find objectivity.. I had to frequently get away from the film to find it..had to take week long, sometimes a fortnight sabbatical from it to fall out of love with my shots.. Finally had to ask Vishal to come in and be ruthless with my film.. who do I have to thank for it.. Mira Nair.. still remember what she said to me when I complemented her on her economy of shots , she said ,”oh we …

Hollywood killed DAVID GOODIS.. the French resurrected him posthumously.. the film that made him famous came out the year he died.. SHOOT THE PIANO PLAYER.. and to tell the world that it was the same book that Truffaut made a film on DOWN THERE was rechristened shoot the piano player.. how sad is that.. that often has been the case with hard boiled, noirists.. barring HAMETT, CHANDLER and CAIN, none of the noirists got the recognition they deserved in there lifetime.. atleast not by Hollywood.. even the best of CORNELL WOOLRICH was made the year he died, MISSISSIPPI MERMAID and THE BRIDE WORE BLACK, again by TRUFFAUT.. its always been the French who discovered them or gave their work the respect it deserved.. the first RIPLEY by Patricia Highsmith was again a french adaptation, PURPLE NOON much before WIMWENDERS made MY AMERICAN FRIEND, much before MINGHELLA adapted it in Hollywood …

Nowhere to hide..I can’t even say it was another Anurag kashyap..the only other anurag kashyap is a 13 year old spelling bee champion..too much of a mozart to be a part of this himesh ensemble..the joke is on me..i didn’t even get paid enough for this creative nadir..the cheques stopped coming way back..so can’t even say i was paid a lot because no lot is a lot for it..what was i thinking..was i thinking..anywhere i go they have this strangest smile on there face and i wonder are they thinking shakespeare or they are just happy..most of them just look at me and say, hmmmm shaka laka.. worst is every time the promos come on air my daughter calls out to my maid and says,”shamsu..papa ki picture” and i try and tell her don’t say it out loud.. i hope she doesn’t tell her friends in school..or her teacher, or …

Have been busy shifting houses, doing post production, hanuman and what not..have been avoiding the world in general..it took one brilliant movie to bring me out of my hibernation..then it was followed by another downright hilarious comedy of manners..and a third one that i have been hearing so much about but have not yet managed to see it..all of them by debutant filmmakers..all of them making you wish you were part of it..the first two i had the chance..the former i couldn’t because of lack of time and i bloody regret it..the second one i just underestimated it..so much for thinking “i know exactly what i am doing”..

MANORAMA-SIX FEET UNDER, india’s first truly original noir set in a small town rajasthan..it reminds me of TAVERNIER’S “COUP DE TORCHON”..it reminds me of jim thomson and the way he looked at america..is how NAVDEEP “NOPI” SINGH looks at his lakhot..from the way …

The Author loses his authority over what he has created the moment his work is put into the commercial arena, or in the public domain..thats the first lesson i learnt about filmmaking..Black Friday is finally released and i am not able to react..i have been locked in, tired of answering the same questions..seeing all the euphoria around..they are doing to black friday what they were doing to BLACK..Black Friday is not a great film, its an important film..its a necessary film..barring Deepa Gahlot no body says that the film should not be let go without a debate and i agree with her..only one word in khalid’s review i identified with..”searching”..thats how i wanted to do it..thats what my state of mind was ..i was searching..rest is all relative..I wrote “Black is a great film for those who have not seen better” and i maintain the same for Black Friday..or any …

Was at Mariott this evening and guess who i walk into..danis tanovic looking for a black stone in the jewellery shop..he is casting for his next film..we talked for a while and came out inspired..the guy has some strong opinions..

he liked water and i told him i wrote dialogues so he congratulated me..i told him i hated the movie..he said you should be proud of it..loveleen tandon who is helping him cast agreed with me.. and he said atleast the film says something..i don’t care what you indians think of it but it shows a problem..well he is really agressive..i told him my introduction to Bosnia was “welcome to sarajevo”,was it a correct representation of his country..

not exactly, what you guys think of water i think of welcome to sarajevo..

we were even..he then told me how he has been a documentary filmmaker, and how he would rather make an unreleased …

The casting process took two months..Dr. Gautam Kishanchandani was the casting director, he hates to be called a doctor..we had two doctors working on the film..The first actor to screen test was also a doctor,that was dr.satish sharma who was rejected in the audition process but was with us during the Tashkent shoot of No Smoking..

Anyways, while writing the script few actors i always had in mind..the ones who didn’t have to audition..I wanted KK to play Rakesh Maria..Naseeruddin Shah to play Tiger memon and Irrfan to play Badshah Khan..Aditya Srivastava was to play Dangle..Nowazzuddin to play Asgar Mukadam and Pankaj jha to play theba and Dubyendu bhattacharya to play yeda yaqub..Siddhu was the only choice for samra..

We got some..others we didn’t..Naseer dropped out because he did not want to play a muslim terrorist ..it was a very sensitive time then..Gujrat was burning..and you know how in times like that …

We still didn’t have the script..

Things had not worked out with Ramu..Jhamu Sugandh by now had come on board..Mid-day also realised that they would have to put in most of the money..Tariq was game..but it being a listed company, the forming of a film company had to be passed by the board..Mid-day Multimedia ltd was already in existence making news stuff for TV..Board passed the proposal..we were on but we didn’t have a script..

Script

All this AM thought that i was working on the script..he would ask me “kitna hua” and i would say “ho raha hai”..i had figured out by then what would go into the script and what is to be left out..but i could not find a structure hence no script..then one day we were sitting at China Gate in bandra..AM,CM and me..and AM said:-

“Is it possible to structure the film in a way where it ends at …

It all began with S.hussain Zaidi..He wrote the book..he was the chief crime correspondent of mid-day..before mid-day, zaidi was working with Indian Express, covering the blasts..all i remembeed about blasts before reading the book, was the front page of TOI in delhi and images in it..images came and they went away from my memory..i was too busy trying to figure out what to do once i reach bombay..93 was the year i came to the city..june 3rd..it was raining..rains that did not stop for two days..
Anyways..so hussain was approached by Penguin to document his findings in the book..as and when hussain finished his first draft he asked Arindam Mitra to read his manuscript…now i met arindam a year before that..he was trying to create some noirish , detective TV shows for mid-day..One day when i was as usual sitting depressed(i have come to a conclusion that i thrive in that …

If you can’t beat them, do not join them..arrange to have them beaten..and how do you arrange that..by prayers? get God on your side? does he care? is he there?..rest of the industry wants you to help them grow, they don’t want you to grow..have i started believing in conspiracy theories..am i getting delusional again or am i reading too much into things..What is the art of survival? in the March of the Penguins, it says when the mother doesn’t get back on time with the food, the father abandons the baby to the cold winter and rushes to the ocean for its own survival..so should we abandon our children, our babies, our ideas, our dreams in order to survive..what is more important..me or my dreams..i am confused..
a question they always ask me about BLACK FRIDAY..what is your stand on the whole issue..i say we need to be more …

The media blitzkrieg has started..i am giving interviews everywhere..its all so strange..people ask the same questions..nothing new they have to ask me..its all so scary..i am told all the publicity we can get from the film is fine..i have started looking like a publicity hound..

Black Friday is finally releasing on 9th february..i am scared i just might breakdown..what will i say..what will happen..till now all that i have done was all speculation..now i am going to be exposed..just saw THE NAMESAKE..what a film..brilliantly written..brilliantly edited..i love Sooni Taraporewala..I adore Mira..they are going to watch my film..what will they think..how will they react..
The amount of heartaches everyone has gone through..the last time it was on the day of the premiere that they stopped us..when i was all ready to go to Eros..i remember getting that call from arindam, my producer, the true hero of Black Friday..the man who fought all …

We just got back from Bhuj yesterday, we were in a no network area so the moment we hit the airport everyone was on their phone..John’s phone won’t stop ringing..his friends calling up to congratulate him on Kabul Express..then suddenly i saw another emotion pass on his face and i asked him what happened..he said nothing..i prodded him..he looked at me and said,”why Khalid mohammed has to write such mean things about me?Just because i refused to do his film? Well i did what my director asked me to do?”

“Don’t let him worry you john..the man doesn’t know his ass from his mouth..and he has already proven it thrice..”

Well i have been dying to see Kabul express..mostly positive reviews barring few..but then bad reviews were from the same few who loved KANK..so it can be ignored..i really want this film to work..to work more …

I am so frustrated and desperate..i haven’t been shooting for last i don’t know how many days..i went to Bhuj to finalise my location for my four shot scene..its a problem to take the vehicle i need to shoot because of octroi and other troubles..and the bloody jeep averages just two KMs a litres and will take five days to reach Bhuj by road..so for it to reach the location it will have to be carried on a truck..and it will cost us one and a half lacs..what a country..

i have to shoot with John in Dharavi on 18th and 19th..only god knows how i am going to pull it off..i have been told to be precise with what am i going to do there..kartik will be frigging happy to know that i did my shot divisions days in advance..by the way this is not to be about No smoking..its …

Last minute improvs,nothing greater than that.. things are turning out better than expected..My AD’s are forever confused as they don’t know what we might do next..once or twice i was even forced by the shortage of time and other issues to do a shot breakdown..but it eventually remained on paper..

Initially when we started the film i was reluctant or you can say,i was unsure about John’s spontaneity..but soon he proved me wrong..given the space, no intelligent man will back off.. ok John Abraham is no De niro but he is one hell of an intelligent and sensitive man..you push his buttons and out flows an outstanding performer..we started improvising in the bathroom in worli house scene..i said lets do a kind of talking to the mirror, “are you talking to me scene”..but K is not angst ridden cab driver, so what would K do when he is confronted with himself.. …

Saurabh and me wrote a draft..he was simultaneously writing a play called KAAL..after we finished we came back to bombay..another thing i forgot to tell you..when saurabh met Ramu for the first time and Ramu narrated him what he had in mind..Saurabh spontanously came up with that scene where bhiku comes back home drunk and shefali slaps him and he slaps her back..Ramu was so goddamned impressed with him..

When we were thinking how do we name our characters..Ramu called his boy to make coffee for us..he said “Bhiku teen coffee”..and i said nice name..Satya was named after a woman called Satya..Someone Ramu knew back in college days..He just wanted her to know that he still rememberred her..Ramu was an engineering student..in some naxalite area in Andhra..then, when ever he got into trouble, he would strike a brucelee pose and make a eeyah sound to defend or protect himself..atleast thats what …

There never was a bound script..i did not write the whole film..nobody did..there is a whole lot of myth surrounding the film..it happened..like every other great film..like sholay happened..no individual created Satya..passion did..most of which came from ramu..his being open to moments, ideas, to instincts, created it..it was a different time..it was a different Ramu..

How it began..Ramu was making Daud..there was a new actor he was working with..it was manoj bajpai..i was there when he took that shot of Paresh going crazy and Manoj appearing from behind the door..Ramu fell in love with the shot..he fell in love with the actor..he fell in love with his intensity..he wanted to make an underworld film with him..he wanted to put Howard Roark in the underworld..thats how Satya started..

I met him..Manoj introduced him to me..i was supposed to be writing a film for Mahesh Bhatt which never got made..it was called GIRVI..Ramu asked …

finally i can say that i am happy..things are going great..John has opened up tremendously..he has become so uninhibited..ayesha takia is a natural..now the complete onus of a fucked up film lies with me..if anything goes wrong, it will be my fault..we improvised so many scenes..i still am shooting K’s house..i am also lagging by two days on the house schedule..

yesterday was an indulgent day..we spent six hours trying to get a scene right..which was two and a half minute long, involving a lot of movement, and a lot of co-ordination from actors and the team and it also involved one of the actors going through complete make up change and reappearing in the same shot..all in two and a half minutes..we fucking did it..yesterday was indulgent because i had all the equipments i wanted,i had the probe lens,steadicam,panther dolly, phoenix crane,i had two cameras, one 435 with 900 zoom..i …