Manoj Bajpayee and Anurag Kashyap’s friendship goes back to their first commercial hit Satya (1998), where Bajpayee shot to fame as Bhiku Mhatre and Kashyap penned the script for Ram Gopal Varma’s gritty underworld drama. The two went on to collaborate on Kaun and Shool, but a misunderstanding drove a wedge between them for years. It was only with Kashyap’s two-part gangster epic Gangs of Wasseypur (2012) that they reunited to create cinematic magic.“There was too much misunderstanding, which got cleared up only after we decided to work on Gangs of Wasseypur. But it was a loss not only for both of us but also for our audience because we could really create a lot of magic together,” Bajpayee told PTI.
A shelved project after Gangs of Wasseypur
Despite the success of Gangs of Wasseypur, the duo couldn’t sustain their collaboration. Bajpayee revealed that Kashyap was writing a film for him but abandoned it midway.“We were discussing a film very seriously. But Anurag being Anurag, he is very unpredictable, and I accept him in all of his flaws… He realised that he is not being able to do justice to it as a writer, so we stopped,” the actor said.Though the project is stalled, Bajpayee hasn’t given up on the possibility of Kashyap reviving it someday. “Let’s see, one fine morning he will get up and he will have his script. I don’t put any pressure on him at all.”
Anurag Kashyap backs Manoj Bajpayee’s Jugnuma
While the dream project remains unfinished, Kashyap has stepped in as a presenter for Bajpayee’s upcoming film Jugnuma (The Fable in English), directed by Raam Reddy.“He saw the film at the New York Film Festival, and he was blown away by it. He decided to support the film and put his name on the poster. He even got big names from the South like Vetri Maaran, Nag Ashwin, and Lijo Jose Pellissery to lend their support. This just tells you about the beauty of the film, and what a magical story Jugnuma is,” Bajpayee said.
‘He can’t create without chaos’
Bajpayee described Kashyap as a courageous filmmaker who thrives in turbulent phases. “There are flip sides to him, there is always a dark phase that he goes through, but that’s his personality. I personally feel that he can’t create without chaos. So, his chaos is a positive indication to me that he is going to come up with something really fantastic.”Asked about what unsettles him about his longtime friend, Bajpayee said it’s Kashyap’s untidy lifestyle. “There are very few things that I dislike about him, like he is not tidy enough. His place is always scattered, and he doesn’t like anyone to clean it. I’m a person who is very organised, so I find it very unsettling when I enter his house.”Jugnuma, titled The Fable in English, is set to hit theatres this Friday with Kashyap as presenter.
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