Anurag Kashyap has been making it to the headlines for his recent release ‘Almost Pyaar with DJ Mohabbat’ which is his take on modern relationships. However, the celebrated filmmaker’s films do not cater for everyone.
While many have expressed their reservations about the films, Kashyap in a recent interview revealed Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s reaction to his film Dev D (2009), which came out a few years after the filmmaker’s Shah Rukh Khan starrer (2002). Both films are based on Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's classic Bengali novel Devdas.
However, Sanjay 'hated' Anurag's adaptation of Devdas, the latter revealed in a new interview.
Well, Anurag Kashyap has a knack of adding realism to his films and maybe that is likely to leave a section of viewers unimpressed.
Anurag Kashyap said that Sanjay did not like Dev D, and even stated that he had 'ruined Chandramukhi and Paro'.
SLB’s Devdas featured Aishwarya Rai as Paro, a childhood friend of Shah Rukh's Devdas, while Madhuri Dixit was seen as his confidant Chandramukhi, a courtesan. While Kashyap’s modern-day adaptation of the Bengali classic, set in contemporary Punjab and Delhi, Mahi Gill played Abhay's childhood sweetheart, while Chanda (Kalki Koechlin) was a sex worker.
In an interaction with Unfiltered By Samdish, Anurag revealed what Sanjay thought of Dev D. He said, "He (Sanjay Leela Bhansali) hated it. He said you have ruined Chandramukhi and Paro. He didn't say it to me, he said it to Vikram (Vikramaditya Motwane), who was his assistant and a co-writer on Dev D... Bhansali is a genius. When it comes to music, choreography, he is just a freaking genius. And now, he has also discovered violence. In Gangubai (Alia Bhatt's 2022 film Gangubai Kathiawadi) he showed violence. I was so happy about it, I went and told him 'tu apne limitations se bahar nikla (you are now coming out of your limitations)'.
The filmmaker also spoke about how he had once written a piece about Black (2005) for a magazine that had left Sanjay upset.
Anurag said SLB thought he was ‘his enemy’. When asked if he liked Black, Anurag said, "I didn't. I didn't believe it. And I wrote about it, why I didn't believe it, which upset him (Sanjay) a lot. That writing was not supposed to be for publication as that was personal to him. Ab wapis hum dost ho gaye hain. Woh ice wapas break ho gaya, mujhe karna pada khud jaa ke (we are friends again after I went and broke the ice with him)... He (Anurag) is a very reserved person, he is also very awkward in public. I keep telling him he needs to let go of that... He takes a lot of time to trust someone. He also deals with his own trauma. He has very closely seen the film industry as a kid, and that he hated."
Anurag’s last outing ‘Almost Pyaar with DJ Mohabbat’ starred Alaya F and debutant Karan Mehta in the lead roles. The film was released on February 3, 2023. The film marked Anurag Kashyap’s return to the romantic musical genre with Amit Trivedi as the music composer. The two had previously teamed up for Dev D.
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