Watch and Review Anurag Kashyap’s first : Last Train to Mahakali
You rarely get golden moments like these. When you get the opportunity to kick ass… ;) literally…
So when you accidentally find a movie online (while browsing for indy cinema in India) that was made by Anurag Kashyap, you know Shakalaka Boom Boom was bound to happen for our banner boy Anurag. Expect another post called Fuck Fuck to Mahakali pretty soon 
)
It’s his first direction and according to the video details it was made way back in 1997/98 for television. The length is about 50 minutes…. Enjoy and do post your reactions… Maybe you’ll like it or would love it… but it’s nice to see the dude’s directorial beginnings…
Tags: Gallery, Video
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
video nahi khul raha :-?
vasan, it will take some time to open depending on your internet connection.
here’s the direct link
mera bheja fry ho raha hai (hinglish: my brain frying happening).. still hungover from the IFFLA weekend yaar.. i got it confused with something else.. can’t wait to watch it nevertheless!
Not bad. Every one acted well, not saying the best but if you see the work from most of the actors in TV this one is way better. Anurag did a good job, if this was his frist direction work.
After a longtime I saw Filmistan studio jail.
I read about this short film few days ago when someone mentioned it in their post here, and I wanted to see how it was, but I was pretty sure it would impossible to track something like this. And here it is few days later, cannot believe its posted here, so many thanks. I did’nt like the background music, but enjoyed the short thriller.
Dude this piece of work is brilliant! I hv seen this film several times on TV but I love it all the same: Kay Kay is sublime (this was the 1st time I ever saw him) & Anurag’s direction is gripping to say the least! Among all the star Bestsellers this was by far the best.Thanx a lot for uploading it here but u cud hv been better with ur criticism!
kaminey oz.. kutte main tera khoon pee jaaonga.. guys be kind.. made this back in 98.. in four days , for two lakhs, mera to exposure ho gaya.. maa kasam
o mYaan !!
its a gud 45 min short!! i could sense the intensity and grippin naration in d frames..specially with someone like KK in d cast!!
i think its a g88 piece f work..that tooo for a sort f debut..!!
it’l definitely strengthen ur fan following anurag ji..!!
not bad for 1998 and 2 lakhs, Liked Kay Kay n Photography and liked climax too.
ye toh saala hona hi tha…:d/:d/
lagta hai jaise oZ bhai ko bachpan ki album mil gayi ho..
anyways great creativity from bachha anuraag…
n c aaz kahan pahuch gaya maa kasam.. …ye bhi to hoon hi tha…:)>-
key key dada bhi ab kitne badal gaye..nahi..
Ohh BTW guys the actress is Nivedita…Kay Kay’s real life Wife.
So Oz you didn’t like it?
Anurag
very interesting piece anurag.. i actually enjoyed it. once you get past the amateurish camerawork (you can even see the cameraman’s shadow on kaykay during the long one-shot take towards the end) and the over-the-top background music, there are some very natural performances and a decent storyline.. it’d be interesting to see how you’d remake it 10yrs later.. but it could be shortened, i think..
very nice Anurag.
I remember your cousin Vicky telling me about this in a pub in bangalore. I also remembered this the 1st time i was on Mahakali cave street.
Any reason for choosing that Leonard Cohen song? Its one of his best songs/poems. I have a very personal connection with that song. I like the Asian underground song too. Those days it was so fresh & mindblowing.
The dialogue between the 1st victim & his friend is hilarious. Most of those conversations are very Tarintino-ish. Silly incidents & pop culture(Satya) references.
Loved it.
Took me to Andheri for few minutes.
Great piece of work Anurag!!!
I kindda knew that something is just not right there and also thought of something what was actually the climax…more or less. he he he
Good one, enjoyed it.
the end bit is hand held because we were running out of time..we had to and we did finish last three jail portions in one hour..
Anurag sir , I hd asked u for some background info on this film bu u wr too busy chastising urself ovr SLBB/FF to care, I guess! Neway some1 did care, evn if it was only to “xpose u” as u say,or “kick ass” as he says; so much so he wnt & put the whole movie on thi site! Let me tell u : I wasn’t aware u had made this wen I saw it initially neither did I know the guy was KK; it was in the end-credits i cm 2 knw of his name & wen I again watched it I came to know u had made it!This film is an inspiratn 4 me & KK’s per4mance is byond wrds! With that 1 per4mance he bcam my absolut fav actor! Vijay Maurya is also quite gd so is Loveleen Mishra,loved the bkgrond score by Shaarang Dev & camera work & lighting r wow! Is it N. Subramnyn? Urs was the best Star Bestseller(didnt undrstnd half of them those by Tigmanshu Dhulia)! I hv seen it 5 times but I love it all the same! Cant wait to see it again!
very raw but fun to watch… in 1998, was anurag in his early twenties??? did u rehearse with the actors before the shoot? 45 mins in 4 days sounds really very hectic.
didn’t KK have the basic akkal to keep his “victims” under observation for a few days b4 he injected? its so basic!
too good…such films on TV can make the medium so worth watching:-?
i saw some kashyap in the cast…is he related to anurag kashyap?
OZ, thnx ya.
star bestsellers series was one of the best on satellite tv. they hav again started doing something on similar lines called studio one on star one. saw one recntly starring sourabh shukla. very funny one.
LTTM…set,art direction,light,camera…compared to today’s standard they r still good. think the story is so so but liked d narrative style. n d the opening sequnce is damn good.
the use of all those red,blue,green lights…anurag was it u or mr nutty since his initial days ?
n is she the same nivedita who is kay kay’s real life wife ?
yesterday i saw ‘black friday’ and must say its an excellent film. thumbs up to u mr.anurag kashyap! and coincidentally, today i got to know about anurag’s first film…last train to mahakali… i just got it loaded on my comp now and am gonna watch it now!!
i just saw ‘last train to mahakali’. nice i liked it very much. great show!
I totally agree with oz, the movie is actually FUCK FUCK TRAIN TO MAHAKALI.This movie is apt to be called a
no answers my friend.. sorry you are disappointed
Cy
I was expecting more than’no answers’,anyway thanks for the reply,and pl no sorry ,iam too small a person to get sorry from an accomplished filmmaker like you.
Mainak-good to know AK has such die-hard fans ,who cannot read or hear anything criticizing him.
I think you guys are being overly critical.
I found it to be quite interesting… it intrigued me, entertained me (especially like the conversations KK was overhearing on the train…). I could sense the ending coming, but that’s the beauty of a suspense thriller, creating that anticipation and then delivering on it.
The production values were ok… well, good considering the extremely low budget. Mind you, give me 2 lacs and I doubt I’d be able to pull off as much as AK did.
Nice to see Anurag and KK so early in their careers. I love that kind of rawness. KK was great.
Overall it was good. Thanks for posting it Oz.
CC
From what I have understood about AK, its not about being different or being honest. Its just something that he or any body for that matter wanted to make, given the restrictions that he/she has, wrote something that made him go out there and do it and he/she did it.
Honesty, logic, definitions don’t matter… he wanted to and he did it…
After he let’s go of it, what we think or what we feel it should be is least of his problems. AK or for that matter and filmmaker or an artist has absolutely no obligation to satisfy any body’s perception or want or vision.
For all I know, he is successful because even after 10yrs, the film still raises questions and people are willing to spend time on it, ask questions and demand answers while so much other work barely gets any attention. He’s done his job and has absolutely no obligation to defend his work.
Like Mainak, yes there is a little bias, but this above view is now generic for me about all work that I see…
PS – LMAO @ Fuck Fuck To Mahakali!!
Despite the flaws, the interest level was sustained and KK too kept it going. Surely, no need for a ‘FF’ post for this one!
Oz: ^:)^
Guys its just a genre film.. its not suppose to have a message.. its for the kick of it .. it was made in the times of mohabbatein..its science is grossly incorrect.. the entire story kk makes up could be false/is false..dumb journo is convenient for the story.. purpose of the film was to attract attention of those producers who think the directors job is to only set frames.. i am a genre freak.. except black friday everything i do is a variation or derivative of genre flicks.. be it paanch or no smoking.. this film served more than its purpose back in 98-99.. it won most awrds for me.. they created a special award for it in screen videocon..and guess who was on the jury, mr amol palekar, govind ji and they gave us a special jury prize for the breakthrough work on television in 2000 for cinematography, direction,editing and kk’s performance..it was the first work done in india on DV.. looking at it now obviously it looks juvenile in places but i am immensely proud of it for what it achieved then.. when even the television wouldn’t dare to go out.. there was a lot of controversy over its screening.. star was not sure whether they should telecast it..there is a hell of a lot.. anyways.. good its surfaced here.. had not seen it in a while..
I actually liked the basic approach – reduced to fit just the essentials. I remember seeing this on TV! Of course the science bits and the gullible journo seems very odd to me right now but (I think) I remember feeling surprised by this. I can’t believe this cost 2 lakhs to make. Considering that AK must have conseived this in 96-97, just around the time he read Fountainhead, the influence is as strong as garlic. I see Kay Kay’s character as AK wanting to prove his talent, and the world and his victims are the producers who either won’t accept him or will be burned. If I put myself in AK’s place in that time of his career, as a very young guy with not a lot of accomplishments yet, I can also interpret Kay Kay’s failure as an expression of AK’s self doubt. At least I feel that a lot, “Am I really good and they don’t see it or am I actually not good at all.” One thing I can feel pretty awesome about is that while AK you read Fountainhead at 23, I was gifted the book at 19; so have had time to process it and move beyond it. BTW, who is the Channel V person who stole the camera from work? The journo?
Pretty Decent film. Though didnt like the mad lady part too much…
Tigmanshu Dhulia’s ‘Bhoron Ne Khilaya Phool’ still remains the best Star BestSeller for me!
I wish they would have more of the Star Bestseller or Studio One series…
Yeah, you guys are right,I think the film belongs to
I did not know about this film, and was pleasantly surprised with it. I liked it chiefly on two accounts: One, you cannot help but get caught up in the drama and anticipation of the story. Second, the ‘real life’ feel of actors and the setting of their conversation, in spite of their unreal situation was for me, the highlight if the movie.
An impressive performance indeed, in spite of the small budget of the film.
I am sure if Anurag were to make the movie again, he will do better in terms of the background research and editing (it seemed too long for a movie which was supposed to be based on two conversations). However, as Anurag pointed out, this shouldn’t distract us from the background and context of its production.
PS: The storyline reminded me of Amitava Ghosh’ book ‘The Calcutta Chromosome’, but only for the first 5 mins. Anyone interested in making that into a movie?
“the
Another note of Thanks to Oz for this.
we arranged a small screening of this film yesterday with my friends, all of whom look forward to any bits about AK’s cinema, thanks to my regular news broadcast and unending discussions from PFC articles. it was raining and we had just finished watching Pulp Fiction for the 13th time. I played ‘Mahakali’ and everyone was engrossed, they lost interest after the initial build-up(from 20th minute onwards), but once the film got over, we had a nice discussion over the film, and how significant and useful was watching the first product of film makers like AK. The general feedback was positive, everyone appreciated KK’s acting, the camera(in places), and use of lights(considering the time it was made)and the use of filters, some of them predicted the story by half the length, and others didnt like the overt dramatic treatment.
Thanks, again!
This film will be achieve status of a cult movie when Anurag wins at Academy or Golden Globe.
Anurag/Oz, where can I get “Paanch”? Please consider this as a sincere request.
FUCK MAN!! This is bloody surreal. I remember watching this a good 10 years back, on Star TV where they used to show Star Bestsellers or something like that( a one hour short story feature!), and I was bowled by this piece. Actually, the whole Best seller series was quite good, some(including this) were real gems. This story stayed on with me for a long, long time. And I come to think of it now, it has been directed by no other than Mr.Kashyap himself? And has Mr. Kashyap directed any more Star Bestsellers?
Anurag Kashyap, i don’t suppose u r gonna read this comment sometime soon. I watched No Smoking recently, just a few days back. God knows why I listened to those idiotic reviews earlier!! But now, lemme tell u.. this for me, is the best and most intelligent movie ever made in bollywood!! And I really am not exaggerating. Gonna watch this now.. Keep up the great work!!
Excellent Movie –great work Anurag Kashyap …
Joy
Just saw the film! very good work man! Everything except screenplay is rocks! Screenplay also very intense but lack proper premise,i will always wonder how journalist got convinced , virus-thing can be made more clear-but then it could have lessen the gripping narration. BTW i think End sucks and that to big time … but direction was superb …so was acting and so was cinematography. Total entertainer and that too without usual “Indian Masala”.
What a fun watch! very raw as someone mentioned – but hey 4 days & 2 lakhs can be a ball-breaker!!
SPOILER WARNING (for those who haven’t seen it yet)
The story KK spins reminded me a little bit of the tradition of Victorian Gothic literature – where you’d have young iconoclast scientists, preying upon the flotsam of London’s night-life to use as guinea pigs for their experiments. The Last Train to Mahakli serves as the perfect device to create that mood.
But I was just thinking about the motivation of KK’s character based on the final twist in the tale – and it struck me, wouldn’t it have worked better if he actually tried to create some kind of sympathy for himself with the journalist? Right now he narrates the story with a kind of cold detachment – which makes me wonder why the journalist would have any sympathy for him at all. If he had tried to maybe flirt with her – create a relationship with her, it would probably have seemed more natural that the journalist had tried to help her (and put her life at stake) plus ofcourse it would have made the ending more shocking. KK’s performance right now is too atonal.
..And I loved the Satya/ Parinda debate!! I vote for Bhiku M as Mumbai ka king con
well … i think this movie is quite surreal…
i am seeing the gvideo format…i am sure it would have looked awesome on tv…still i am glad there were no ads.
good work
smne pls tell me wht happens in the end ,i have been waiting for yrs to know ,the electricity at my place went off right when the police catches the guy when he is out to buy the soda. :D
This was awesome guys! this probably the only star best seller i remember! an intruiging story indeed!
Just as i started presuming the the film as a metaphor for Ak’s struggle to make ppl accept his revolutionary ideas like the pratagonist it turned out the guy was a psycopath all along! :D aur meri bhi light chali gai thi uss time! thanks a bunch guys!
hmm good ,why its not on imdb
excellent..its very well drafted .It reminded me of ek doctor ki maut, although the movie was on the same line as far as the subject matter, the cure for virus and the problems faced by the doctor is concerned. However, as the movie progressed i realised it was used just to disguise and only to twist the story later on. I always loved movies of this sort. movies which gives a very different perspective in the end, as opposed to movies which are very predictable. movie in which the story doesn’t end but transcends and leaves several questions in the mind of viewer.congratuations to anurag!! eagerly waiting for gurudutt and bombay velvet..all the best wishes.!!