‘Kabir Singh’ represents more than 70 per cent of urban India: Anurag Kashyap

PTI, Dec 13, 2019, 2:44 PM IST

Mumbai: Why shouldn’t a film like “Kabir Singh” exist when it represents more than 70 to 80 percent of urban India, says director Anurag Kashyap who believes it is important to make people uncomfortable rather than stay politically correct in cinema.

There has always been a debate around the role or responsibility of artistes and whether they should bear accountability for the art they put out but Kashyap says one cannot enforce the existence of one kind of cinema.

“The first thing is, it’s up to you whether you want to take it on or not. If I disagree with something, if I don’t consider the cinema of a kind cinema at all, I can’t say it cannot exist. I can’t enforce that. We can all co-exist,” Kashyap told PTI.

“Like there were a lot of controversies around ‘Kabir Singh’. Everybody can make any film and should make any film, should represent all kinds of people. ‘Kabir Singh’ does represent more than 75-80 percent of urban India. Why not put it out? If I disagree with it, I won’t see it. But sometimes it’s necessary to see ourselves,” the director said.

Kashyap was speaking on the sidelines of the launch of Audible Suno, an audio show platform, where he has directed “Thriller Factory” which chronicles crime-stories of the country’s best pulp fiction.

The episodes are voiced by Tabu, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and other major stars from Hindi cinema.

Tabu, who has done her share of dark characters in films like “Andhadhun” and “Maqbool”, said she’s not in control over how people interpret her art.

“What people take from it is really not in my control. I can just be mindful of what I am choosing. I have to be clear about ‘why am I doing this film?’ or ‘what value does it have for me personally?'” the actor said.

Kashyap added, “Being politically correct all the time doesn’t help. India as a country, for 75 years, has made films with positive messages, all love stories with happy endings. Where has it brought us? It is very important to make people uncomfortable sometimes.”

As the controversy around “Kabir Singh” picked steam, people also gave examples of Kashyap’s “Gangs of Wasseypur” and if its leading men, Manoj Bajpayee and Nawazuddin would take responsibility for the violence in the film.

When asked how does he view the argument, Nawazuddin said, “What happens in the society, who takes responsibility for that? Films show a very diluted version of what happens out there.”