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    on Apr 26 2007 @ 9:10 pm
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« For cinephiles in Mumbai: National Film Circle | Home | Casting the brown man: the “other” new wave »


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…

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40 Responses to “Watch and Review Anurag Kashyap’s first : Last Train to Mahakali”

  1. vasanbala on April 26th, 2007 9:26 pm

    video nahi khul raha :-?

  2. oz on April 26th, 2007 9:32 pm

    vasan, it will take some time to open depending on your internet connection.

    here’s the direct link

  3. striker on April 26th, 2007 10:11 pm

    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!

  4. Anshul Jain on April 26th, 2007 10:46 pm

    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.

  5. maxpower on April 26th, 2007 10:52 pm

    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.

  6. BD on April 27th, 2007 2:05 am

    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!

  7. Anurag Kashyap on April 27th, 2007 2:49 am

    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

  8. wnkt on April 27th, 2007 6:40 am

    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..!!

  9. Varun on April 27th, 2007 6:40 am

    not bad for 1998 and 2 lakhs, Liked Kay Kay n Photography and liked climax too.

  10. atray on April 27th, 2007 6:41 am

    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..

  11. OM on April 27th, 2007 8:49 am

    Ohh BTW guys the actress is Nivedita…Kay Kay’s real life Wife.

  12. Tony Mera Naam on April 27th, 2007 9:02 am

    So Oz you didn’t like it?

  13. Tushar on April 27th, 2007 9:22 am

    Anurag

  14. striker on April 27th, 2007 9:35 am

    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..

  15. Mainak on April 27th, 2007 4:27 pm

    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.

  16. Saurabh Dixit on April 27th, 2007 5:59 pm

    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.

  17. Anurag Kashyap on April 27th, 2007 8:03 pm

    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..

  18. BD on April 27th, 2007 11:04 pm

    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!

  19. Cy on April 27th, 2007 11:13 pm

    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.

  20. Cy on April 27th, 2007 11:17 pm

    didn’t KK have the basic akkal to keep his “victims” under observation for a few days b4 he injected? its so basic!

  21. anand on April 28th, 2007 4:59 am

    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?

  22. Phoenixnu on April 28th, 2007 5:10 am

    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 ?

  23. Phoenixnu on April 28th, 2007 5:14 am

    n is she the same nivedita who is kay kay’s real life wife ?

  24. Himanshu Vora on April 28th, 2007 12:20 pm

    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!!

  25. Himanshu Vora on April 28th, 2007 1:55 pm

    i just saw ‘last train to mahakali’. nice i liked it very much. great show!

  26. CC on April 29th, 2007 12:03 am

    I totally agree with oz, the movie is actually FUCK FUCK TRAIN TO MAHAKALI.This movie is apt to be called a

  27. Anurag Kashyap on April 29th, 2007 7:11 am

    no answers my friend.. sorry you are disappointed

  28. mainak on April 29th, 2007 10:11 am

    Cy

  29. CC on April 29th, 2007 11:59 am

    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.

  30. Tony Mera Naam on April 29th, 2007 1:40 pm

    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.

  31. ravptor on April 29th, 2007 1:40 pm

    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…

  32. Tony Mera Naam on April 29th, 2007 1:45 pm

    PS - LMAO @ Fuck Fuck To Mahakali!!

  33. randramble on April 29th, 2007 2:49 pm

    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: ^:)^

  34. Anurag Kashyap on April 29th, 2007 4:49 pm

    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..

  35. Anuj Nijhawan on April 29th, 2007 11:33 pm

    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…

  36. CC on April 30th, 2007 1:38 am

    Yeah, you guys are right,I think the film belongs to

  37. Abbas on April 30th, 2007 2:56 pm

    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?

  38. Tony Mera Naam on May 1st, 2007 9:20 am

    “the

  39. Tushar on May 7th, 2007 5:52 am

    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!

  40. Shashikant on May 8th, 2007 10:18 pm

    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.

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