By Puja Talwar
Copyright deccanchronicle
Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap calls his latest film Nishaanchi his “best kept secret,” staying true to his habit of keeping projects under wraps until they’re ready — but this time, he has finally shared a glimpse.Kashyap shares that Nishaanchi is the story of a pair of twins on opposite ends of the moral spectrum, something he has been developing for nearly nine years. “I just wanted to make a very entertaining, fun film. It’s set in Kanpur, and I wanted to bring out the heart and essence of this colourful town. It’s a throwback to the kind of cinema we watched in the ’70s, but with a modern twist. At its core, it’s a simple story,” he says.Asked about the current downturn of formulaic Bollywood films, he doesn’t mince words, “Everybody has started chasing numbers and wanting to outdo the other. The landscape became strange, everyone wanted to do everything but make movies. Studios came in, flexing their muscle. I just had to step away from that scenario.”In 2025, Kashyap made headlines by shifting base to Bengaluru, citing Mumbai’s toxic, box office-driven environment. “It had been simmering for a while,” he says adding, “Increasingly, you feel isolated by the system. They see you as some sort of pariah who is attacking them. They get uncomfortable associating with you. They don’t like advice – they see it as criticism. I don’t have to live in Mumbai to make movies. If I’m working on a film, I’ll be wherever I need to shoot. This move has really helped me fix myself and heal a lot.”He reiterates what several actors and filmmakers have been saying, the business, especially mainstream cinema, is dictated by businessmen rather than storytellers. “They’re not filmmakers, they’re men of numbers whose worldview is very limited. They’re unimaginative and obsessed with outdoing each other. If you put them all in one room, you’d see the resentment they carry towards each other. Their world doesn’t go beyond Juhu and Bandra.”Kashyap has found a new creative home down South. As an actor, he has been part of several Tamil films including Viduthalai – Part 2, Maharaja, Lalayama: Rifle Club, and the upcoming Vaaghachipai. He will also be seen in a Hindi-Telugu bilingual dacoit drama.“There is so much acceptance and love that I don’t get in Mumbai. Acting is just a job for me; filmmaking is my passion. And down South, there’s a lot more creative freedom,” he says.
