BLACK FRIDAY-How the cast and crew came together

Posted by: Anurag Kashyap
Posted on: February 2, 2007 05:23 am

The casting process took two months..Dr. Gautam Kishanchandani was the casting director, he hates to be called a doctor..we had two doctors working on the film..The first actor to screen test was also a doctor,that was dr.satish sharma who was rejected in the audition process but was with us during the Tashkent shoot of No Smoking..

Anyways, while writing the script few actors i always had in mind..the ones who didn’t have to audition..I wanted KK to play Rakesh Maria..Naseeruddin Shah to play Tiger memon and Irrfan to play Badshah Khan..Aditya Srivastava was to play Dangle..Nowazzuddin to play Asgar Mukadam and Pankaj jha to play theba and Dubyendu bhattacharya to play yeda yaqub..Siddhu was the only choice for samra..

We got some..others we didn’t..Naseer dropped out because he did not want to play a muslim terrorist ..it was a very sensitive time then..Gujrat was burning..and you know how in times like that anybody could have stood up and said anything..Its a funny country..same reason why Irrfan dropped out..Irrfan said he had no issues to play Rakesh Maria..that put us into a sticky situation..the finance was raised by selling these three actors together for the first time..the financiers were pressurising us to interchange the casting of badshah khan and rakesh maria..they also told me i had a KK bias..i tried to show them how KK had a close resemblance to Rakesh Maria..when pressure got too much..i put my foot down..AM stood by me..we got away..

Now if not Irrfan then who for Badshah khan..i immediately thought of Aditya srivastava..but i had to show them why i thought so..i hesitantly requested Aditya to audition for Badshah..he had no problems, and was very sporting..sometimes it gets embarrassing..an actor you have worked with and appreciated twice before, you ask him to audition..he rocked..i knew it..now we had to look for dangle..we thought of kishore kadam..i don’t remember who thought of him but what a choice..we still asked him to audition and he did..I think it was Rajkumar who suggested Pavan..Pavan and RK worked together on a bestseller on star plus called VIKRUT..it was a stunning show with a stunning performance..we went to meet pavan in versova..i told him what film we were attempting to do..i gave him the script and i asked him would he audition for the film..he looked at me and said , “If i like the script,I will audition.”

Next day he called me..are you sure you want to do this film..I said yes..He asked me who is producing it..the moment i said mid-day..he was kind of assured..He came for the audition..twice..till we said that’s enough..Most of the casting process i left completely to gautam and sanjay maurya(who was also doubling up as sound designer with kunal sharma) assisted him in the process..the most beautiful thing about black friday was..there was no hierarchy..everybody did everything..

The most time we took in casting was Jaaved Chikna..we couldn’t find one..one day GK called me..”i have to show you something”..he showed me the audition tape of Arbaaz Ali Khan.. i recognised him..i know him..i exclaimed..he was in Mrityu Daata, Police Public.. playing romantic leads..why would he want to do such a secondary role.. his audition was great..but why would he do it.. Apparently he had heard about the film we were making..and he knew we were looking for someone to play Jaaved Chikna.. and he knew Jaaved Chikna..since childhood..he actually knew a lot of them from his Bandra childhood days.. A lot of them played cricket together as children before they grew up into what they didn’t know, they would become.. he was on board..

How we got Dawood is a story everyone knows..Vijay Maurya wanted to play him..ghar ki murgi daal barabar.. i said no.. he disappeared only to reappear as dawood..he also knew from what angle he looked dawood..so he got along with his brother sanjay maurya and shot himself from only that angle and they manipulated me completely..till i realised there was no other way he could be D..and he never sounded like D..so we got..Chandan Arora to give his voice..Vijay Maurya’s face..Chandan’s voice(which was also sanjay maurya’s discovery)..Fabeha’s glasses made D..Offcourse it was also Vijay maurya’s great performance..(I hope he reads this..ha ha )

Choosing the crew was easy..they were all from Paanch..Wasiq Khan..the most brilliant art director anyone can have when he is in the mood for it, and very lazy if he is not..Nutty, the greatest love of my life..my male J Lo..the best male ass in tinsel town..the man who taught me the most..i only taught him how to masturbate..the industry’s oldest virgin during Paanch but had grown since..the guy in the pink shirt who gets rid of the RDX in the film..the most instinctive cameraman..the man who made the most difficult shoot possible..the man who never said no..he would get drunk after the shoot and do Rajnikant improvs..and would let me squeeze his ass when i was stressed..ha ha..

Shaam Kaushal was to do the action..by then i had sworn off allan amin..who treated us like nobodies during Paanch and ruined most of our action bits..he is good when you are big..so we had shaam ji this time..Fabeha was to do the costumes..We had Elahe Heptulla as the E.P. for a while before she left us for Teen Deewarein..Arjun Bagga, Birsa Das Gupta and Aliya Curmally took over production..Preety Ali, Imti’s wife was also on board as the line producer.. As always i didn’t have to look for an editor..the best editor was at home, Aarti bajaj.. Kunal sharma had a partner this time..Sanjay Maurya..Sanjay also found us the most Brilliant Locations.. And last but not the least.. My arm and leg-Raj Kumar Gupta..the BadCop of BF..He did all the screaming so i could be polite..My incredible AD team.. Kshipra, Aparna, GK, Sanjay, Neel, Raja Chaudhary, Dev,Navin..BF is Bf because of them..

And the one man who stood behind us like a rock..the one man without whom there was no Black Friday is Arindam Mitra..he stood by the film even when i moved on to Gulaal and No smoking..To support him, to help us get any location we wanted, to help me attend the TADA court, to help us get anything was CM..


And behind the two was TARIQ ANSARI..the silent, invisible hero of BF..

__________________________________________________________________

29 Responses to “BLACK FRIDAY-How the cast and crew came together..”
1. RK | February 2nd, 2007 at 5:39 am

Anurag:
you absorbed BF the book for 18 months and then you started making film. Certainly you were having characters live before you, because of the person Arbaaz ali khan who knew many accused personally. As an director whom did you find raised the standard of acting in that film?
Any standar acting memory, which brought you goose
bump because of the thril that scene created while fiming it?

2. kuldeep | February 2nd, 2007 at 6:57 am

hey anurag..when i saw your film at PIFF…i never knew that the actors u casted in your film ever exisited..u have done a great job..
all the best…
kuldeep

3. striker | February 2nd, 2007 at 7:28 am

it’s ridiculous to what detail you’re able to write this, and all from MEMORY.. i find that impressive, to say the least. and on another note, it’s good to see auditions exist in this industry.. even for those that you may think are the right choice and are embarrassed to ask to audition for you.. but for him to like the script to audition..? the realism goes away there.. in this case it was a semi-luxury for pavan since he was already established (or was he?) with “vikrut”.. def not the case for newcomers.. they have to audition for whatever comes their way

4. VC | February 2nd, 2007 at 7:33 am

Wow…Reading this makes it so much more worth it …now that it’s releasing…
AK..Please continue…with your experiences during BF’s making…

5. striker | February 2nd, 2007 at 8:22 am

just came across this on rediff.. chat with anurag LIVE on monday.. i plan to be sitting in on this..!

http://www.rediff.com/movies/2007/feb/02chat.htm

6. striker | February 2nd, 2007 at 8:26 am

and a closer look at the black friday poster..

http://www.rediff.com/movies/2007/feb/01black.htm

7. Raaj Pillai | February 2nd, 2007 at 8:51 am

Hi anurag,

ur story is so inspiring for people like me…..actually i thought only i had these anxiety attacks when u r not supposed to be depressed(i read ur interview in mid-day today)….but then, i think it is a part of the game…frankly i have done some good work while being depressed,,,actually someone told me “just channelise all ur negative energies into ur creativity”…i did not understand what he said at that time …but then it did work when i tried, and imagine my state of mind when the client was showering praises on me but i was least interested in his lecture (he spoke to me for 40-45 minutes on the phone, when i actually wanted to be left alone)…..i hope that ‘black friday’ brings u all the recognition that is due to u.

good luck
Raaj

8. Zaheer | February 2nd, 2007 at 9:42 am

Hello,
Raaj Pillai,
Thank you for your comments on my posters,
I wish I had more time for the tons of concepts i had, but there are no excuses.

you can contact me at zaheersc@hotmail.com
Thanks

9. Aroon | February 2nd, 2007 at 11:32 am

Hi Anurag,

Could you shed some light on the music part of the movie

10. OM | February 2nd, 2007 at 12:02 pm

My My..what a post…mindblowing..i need a sutta before i can get back to normality after reading this post…better comment in the next post :d/

11. Nitin Shitole | February 2nd, 2007 at 12:17 pm

Anurag,
Wanted to ask this question since quite a long, who’s the baldy guy whom Pavan Malhotra meets in Dubai for the first time in the movie? He’s just for that one scene IIRC, and has just 2-3 lines, one of them is to the hotel waiter and then while eating to Pavan Malhotra saying something like - you are in trouble … tu toh gaya …
What dialog delivery ! amazing !!

12. Vasan | February 2nd, 2007 at 12:25 pm

Nattu as J Lo…..hahahha…hhhhaaaa..great stress buster

13. chandan sharma | February 2nd, 2007 at 12:53 pm

that post left be begging for more. AK, can you please throw some light on who did the back ground score and when and how Indian ocean got involved.

i specially enjoyed the Nutty part. great insight into complex human emotions.

14. OM | February 2nd, 2007 at 1:58 pm

AK..how did Zakir Hussain come into the movie? He had such a some role of bomb de-fussion guy…

As i always maintain..Aditya Srivastav nailed this role…never have i seen him in such an intense role…what a performance…so did Kay Kay..scene to watch out for..the bath scene in the Police station…WOW

15. dilip | February 3rd, 2007 at 7:39 am

just lemme know how to get in touch with u

16. hansal | February 4th, 2007 at 2:15 pm

over 50 previews and i wasn’t invited! i saw the film and felt left out… nevertheless a great film anurag… u will have to live up to this film forever… got drunk and argued with a common friend about the commercial possiblities of BF… i told him only one thing… let those who haven’t seen the film see it - that compensates for any commercial success… if salaam-e-ishq makes 3.52 crores in mumbai alone then the barometer for success is definitely flawed! all the best anurag… God Bless…

17. P.R.S.LOKENDRA VARMA | February 5th, 2007 at 12:24 am

troll

Commenter gets the TROLL CAP17. nononsense | February 1st, 2007 at 6:52 am
21. nononsense | February 1st, 2007 at 7:51 am
23. nononsense | February 1st, 2007 at 7:59 am

who is this fucking nononsense

every body who is reading this brothers and sisters. what is his calibre to judge anurag.NO ONE SHOULD HURT ANURAG IF ANY BODY REPEATS MY USKO MAKI GALI DONGA………………I DONT CARE ANY BODY HOW MUCH BIG HE IS ……………….

18. P.R.S.LOKENDRA VARMA | February 5th, 2007 at 12:28 am

ANURAG KASHYAP SORRY
………………BEHALF OF nononsense

19. Vasan | February 5th, 2007 at 6:42 am

was reading ur rediff chat Anurag.

was laughing my gut off…..

some singh typed : are you sleeping…
u say : no i am jerking off on the net
singh says: u are a dog
you: woof…woof..

hahahahahahhahahhaaaaa……

20. striker | February 5th, 2007 at 6:56 am

=)) vasan, i was just about to paste those snippets of the chat myself! great minds think alike ;)

these are great too…

yht asked, hello sir i have seen Black friday it is better than satya do u expect oscar
Anurag Kashyap answers, I expect Angelina Jolie.

KATHAP asked, 6850
Anurag Kashyap answers, ???

21. Pradeep | February 5th, 2007 at 9:07 am

link?:)

22. striker | February 5th, 2007 at 9:16 am

pradeep, here u go.. u’ll have to login with an ID..

http://www.rediff.com/movies/2007/feb/02chat.htm

23. Amit Mishra | February 5th, 2007 at 10:45 am

damn! i missed the chat :(( , and they dont have the transcripts up as of now.:(
hope to catch up with it when the transcripts are up.:-?

24. ashok | February 7th, 2007 at 3:02 am

Hi Anurag,
Great fan of your writing, but something has been bugging me about the movies that are recently made on communalism in India. Somehow most of them look like they follow a set formula. Show India and especially Hindus in bad light. The western media and festival circuit lap it up gleefully and voila, there’s an award and a lot of buzz in the media. I am NOT saying what they show is wrong but enough effort is not put in to give proper perspective to the film, like if it is set in the 40s or 50s, a little emphasis would be nice because a lot of my western friends ask me if that is how India “is” while in reality that’s how India “was”. Again, if its a a film about communal issues, the filmmakers have no problem sowing a Hindu “mob” attacking the crowd. Again, I am NOT saying Hindus don’t attack. I am just saying the fault is always on both sides but I get a feeling that most filmmakers are afraid of showing the minorities in bad light. Maybe they fear the media buzz. Maybe they are afraid of being branded as politically-incorrect/insensitive. The same with Hindu customs. I know most of them are ridiculous and should be exposed. But I never saw something like that about the Muslim community. I mean, Deepa Mehta has no problem “exposing” a lot of Hindu issues to the world and winning accolades for that. but how about a movie about a Muslim girl who doesn’t get justice because of a lack of support from the legal system? I just hope your Black Friday has the guts to show instances in which some Muslims were wrong rather than justifying the bomb blasts because of the babri demolition. At this point, i am a little disillusioned with the critically acclaimed movies about communal issues. They all seem to show only one side of the problem. I don’t blame a Parzania. I haven’t seen it but from what i heard from my friends, it sounds like a sincere attempt to show what happened. I just hope some other filmmaker or the same filmmaker has the guts to show the other side too. And I really hope you and your Black Friday stand up. My hope stems from the fact that you have nothing to lose. I mean, no one can accuse you of any “new” stuff, right? :)

25. Arijit | February 7th, 2007 at 8:56 am

Hi Anurag,
Just wanted to say that I’ll be at the premiere tomorrow at Metro Adlabs, with family no less! Hope I can meet you. Really looking forward to watching the movie on the big screen.
All the best, man.

26. rahul | February 9th, 2007 at 12:56 pm

Hi Mr. Kashyap,
your movie ends on Gandhiji’s famous line “Eye for an Eye, would make whole world blind”. do you really believe in him?Taking into view, about your past films which had justified violence, including BF as means of retalition. A foreigner comes and makes a film on him & wins 8 oscars, but in his own country he’s most hated man.If you speak with common public from Kashmir to Pakistan for all problems he’s considered responsible. How do you react to that?

27. Urmi | February 12th, 2007 at 12:00 am

Hey Anurag,
Don’t know if you remember this… but around 4 years back you came to an XIC class for a talk and screend Paanch there.
I remember, it was almost a rough cut and you had tales to narrate about Paanch. And then some brilliant minds asked you about what’s next.
I still remember how passionately you spoke about BF and its characters then. Your ghar ki murgi had already made its way through as Dawood, if I am not wrong.
(will cal him in a bit and tell him).
Honestly, I wanted to see what becomes of tht great story. You’ve done a great great job Anurag. Be proud of yourself, not just for making this film,
but also for not giving up.
Love your spirit. “Der hai… par andher nahi hai.”
Lovvveeed the dark humour in the most unexpected places. My personal fav. is the chor police chase with a tired chor and worse hawaldar… man! “ruk ja yaar”… :) hilarious.
Looking forward to No smoking now. But all said and done, Paanch still remains my first Fav. I’d love to have a copy… dunno how?

28. Urmi | February 13th, 2007 at 12:49 am

Hey Anurag,
Don’t know if you remember this… but around 4 years back you came to XIC class for a talk and screend Paanch there.
I remember, it was almost a rough cut and you had tales to narrate about Paanch. And then some brilliant minds asked you about what’s next.
I still remember how passionately you spoke about BF and its characters then. Your ghar ki murgi had already made its way through as Dawood, if I am not wrong.
(will cal him in a bit and tell him).
Honestly, I wanted to see what becomes of tht great story. You’ve done a great great job Anurag. Be proud of yourself, not just for making this film,
but also for not giving up.
Love your spirit. “Der hai… par andher nahi hai.”
Lovvveeed the dark humour in the most unexpected places. My personal fav. is the chor police chase with a tired chor and worse hawaldar… man! “ruk ja yaar”… hilarious.
Looking forward to No smoking now. But all said and done, Paanch still remains my first Fav. I’d love to have a copy… dunno how?

29. manjeet singh | February 13th, 2007 at 8:30 am

Anurag, Heard that the uncut version was almost 4 hours long. Did at any point of time there was a thought of possibility of spliting it in 2 parts. The material itself would have been a lot.

BLACK FRIDAY-How it all began PART-2

Posted by: Anurag Kashyap
Posted on: February 2, 2007 12:46 am

We still didn’t have the script..

Things had not worked out with Ramu..Jhamu Sugandh by now had come on board..Mid-day also realised that they would have to put in most of the money..Tariq was game..but it being a listed company, the forming of a film company had to be passed by the board..Mid-day Multimedia ltd was already in existence making news stuff for TV..Board passed the proposal..we were on but we didn’t have a script..

Script

All this AM thought that i was working on the script..he would ask me “kitna hua” and i would say “ho raha hai”..i had figured out by then what would go into the script and what is to be left out..but i could not find a structure hence no script..then one day we were sitting at China Gate in bandra..AM,CM and me..and AM said:-

“Is it possible to structure the film in a way where it ends at Babri Masjid”

I immediately responded,”why not”

Why not..why fucking not..that was probably the only way it could all come together..i was excited..Then AM dropped a bomb , can we have the script by the weekend..meekly i said..”Yeah”..then he went ahead and booked the conference room at Land’s end..he called Sudhir Mishra and someone else was also to come for the first narration..I panicked..I called Dev..

“Dev, i have to deliver the script in next two days, i need your help..get the typist,i want you and neel to be with me for next 48 hrs”..we went back..i collected all the research material, handed it to Dev and asked him to start making a timeline..i had read the book so many times that i remembered everything..i also had individual episodes figured out..i roughly discussed the structure with Dev and neel and i told them i am going to start writing, by the time i finish one episode ,the next episode timeline should be up on my wall..I started writing..i had worked up a state of mind..i kept writing..neel would take my finished pages and give it to the typist..then he would take the timeline from dev and bunch together all the material on the basis of it and put it next to me..it was chaos..two rooms and the hall of my house was strewn with papers..we kept at it, not eating, not sleeping, phones off.. i never wrote so furiously..ideas were flowing..information was all there..I wrote some 120 pages at a stretch..we finished writing the film in 36 hours..we finished typing it in next ten..i have never felt prouder of myself..i till date don’t know what drove me that day..i don’t want to analyse it..and i have always been scared to say it in public forums or press conferences that i wrote the film in 36 hrs..I wish i can do that again..I do write fast..and Black Friday isn’t the fastest script i have ever written..it was the most difficult and the most technical, when i look back at it..it just happened..may be because there were eighteen preceding months that i lived with it, thought about it..the brilliant research work that my team did and i had read it all..it was beautiful..

The narration went very well..

Later on we did make some changes in it..some while shooting..like the chase which we improvised..some on editing table..a lot of it went out..a lot will go in to the TV series..some after editing..like the opening scene..

After we had a first cut, i showed the film to some people that i trust..N K Sharma..our Panditji of Act-one theatre group in delhi..Act-one was the breeding ground of actors like Manoj Bajpai,Ashish Vidyarthi, Gajraj Rao and most of the cast of Bandit Queen et al.. A group that NK started with Piyush Mishra..Piyush Wrote and composed music..NK directed..Now NK on seeing the film said..

“Film badhiya hai, bas sandwich missing hai”

I didn’t get it..no body did..then he explained..film begins on the day of the blast and ends at Babri but that doesn’t say much..come back to tha blasts..sandwich the film between the blasts..

and we did..

Next, Imtiaz ali, my dearest friend and another Act-one alumni, who also plays Yaqub Memon in the film said..

“Beginning thodi faili hui lag rahi hai”

Now we all were feelin that but nobody ever said it..i sat down with imti and brainstormed..that is when i said what if instead of showing gullu,running away then surrendering and cops asking question i do one long scene..and imti responded very well..like two excited children we started to work on it..i wrote ..he read it..he reacted..we locked it..we had a new opening sequence..AM loved it..shooting was over..we decided to shoot the new opening sequence in the office..Wasiq, aged the two walls ..we put Manoj goyal and the other actor and reshot the opening sequence..the way it is now..


Anyways after the script..we locked in the crew..

_________________________________________________________________

29 Responses to “BLACK FRIDAY-How the cast and crew came together..”
1. RK | February 2nd, 2007 at 5:39 am

Anurag:
you absorbed BF the book for 18 months and then you started making film. Certainly you were having characters live before you, because of the person Arbaaz ali khan who knew many accused personally. As an director whom did you find raised the standard of acting in that film?
Any standar acting memory, which brought you goose
bump because of the thril that scene created while fiming it?

2. kuldeep | February 2nd, 2007 at 6:57 am

hey anurag..when i saw your film at PIFF…i never knew that the actors u casted in your film ever exisited..u have done a great job..
all the best…
kuldeep

3. striker | February 2nd, 2007 at 7:28 am

it’s ridiculous to what detail you’re able to write this, and all from MEMORY.. i find that impressive, to say the least. and on another note, it’s good to see auditions exist in this industry.. even for those that you may think are the right choice and are embarrassed to ask to audition for you.. but for him to like the script to audition..? the realism goes away there.. in this case it was a semi-luxury for pavan since he was already established (or was he?) with “vikrut”.. def not the case for newcomers.. they have to audition for whatever comes their way

4. VC | February 2nd, 2007 at 7:33 am

Wow…Reading this makes it so much more worth it …now that it’s releasing…
AK..Please continue…with your experiences during BF’s making…

5. striker | February 2nd, 2007 at 8:22 am

just came across this on rediff.. chat with anurag LIVE on monday.. i plan to be sitting in on this..!

http://www.rediff.com/movies/2007/feb/02chat.htm

6. striker | February 2nd, 2007 at 8:26 am

and a closer look at the black friday poster..

http://www.rediff.com/movies/2007/feb/01black.htm

7. Raaj Pillai | February 2nd, 2007 at 8:51 am

Hi anurag,

ur story is so inspiring for people like me…..actually i thought only i had these anxiety attacks when u r not supposed to be depressed(i read ur interview in mid-day today)….but then, i think it is a part of the game…frankly i have done some good work while being depressed,,,actually someone told me “just channelise all ur negative energies into ur creativity”…i did not understand what he said at that time …but then it did work when i tried, and imagine my state of mind when the client was showering praises on me but i was least interested in his lecture (he spoke to me for 40-45 minutes on the phone, when i actually wanted to be left alone)…..i hope that ‘black friday’ brings u all the recognition that is due to u.

good luck
Raaj

8. Zaheer | February 2nd, 2007 at 9:42 am

Hello,
Raaj Pillai,
Thank you for your comments on my posters,
I wish I had more time for the tons of concepts i had, but there are no excuses.

you can contact me at zaheersc@hotmail.com
Thanks

9. Aroon | February 2nd, 2007 at 11:32 am

Hi Anurag,

Could you shed some light on the music part of the movie

10. OM | February 2nd, 2007 at 12:02 pm

My My..what a post…mindblowing..i need a sutta before i can get back to normality after reading this post…better comment in the next post :d/

11. Nitin Shitole | February 2nd, 2007 at 12:17 pm

Anurag,
Wanted to ask this question since quite a long, who’s the baldy guy whom Pavan Malhotra meets in Dubai for the first time in the movie? He’s just for that one scene IIRC, and has just 2-3 lines, one of them is to the hotel waiter and then while eating to Pavan Malhotra saying something like - you are in trouble … tu toh gaya …
What dialog delivery ! amazing !!

12. Vasan | February 2nd, 2007 at 12:25 pm

Nattu as J Lo…..hahahha…hhhhaaaa..great stress buster

13. chandan sharma | February 2nd, 2007 at 12:53 pm

that post left be begging for more. AK, can you please throw some light on who did the back ground score and when and how Indian ocean got involved.

i specially enjoyed the Nutty part. great insight into complex human emotions.

14. OM | February 2nd, 2007 at 1:58 pm

AK..how did Zakir Hussain come into the movie? He had such a some role of bomb de-fussion guy…

As i always maintain..Aditya Srivastav nailed this role…never have i seen him in such an intense role…what a performance…so did Kay Kay..scene to watch out for..the bath scene in the Police station…WOW

15. dilip | February 3rd, 2007 at 7:39 am

just lemme know how to get in touch with u

16. hansal | February 4th, 2007 at 2:15 pm

over 50 previews and i wasn’t invited! i saw the film and felt left out… nevertheless a great film anurag… u will have to live up to this film forever… got drunk and argued with a common friend about the commercial possiblities of BF… i told him only one thing… let those who haven’t seen the film see it - that compensates for any commercial success… if salaam-e-ishq makes 3.52 crores in mumbai alone then the barometer for success is definitely flawed! all the best anurag… God Bless…

17. P.R.S.LOKENDRA VARMA | February 5th, 2007 at 12:24 am

troll

Commenter gets the TROLL CAP17. nononsense | February 1st, 2007 at 6:52 am
21. nononsense | February 1st, 2007 at 7:51 am
23. nononsense | February 1st, 2007 at 7:59 am

who is this fucking nononsense

every body who is reading this brothers and sisters. what is his calibre to judge anurag.NO ONE SHOULD HURT ANURAG IF ANY BODY REPEATS MY USKO MAKI GALI DONGA………………I DONT CARE ANY BODY HOW MUCH BIG HE IS ……………….

18. P.R.S.LOKENDRA VARMA | February 5th, 2007 at 12:28 am

ANURAG KASHYAP SORRY
………………BEHALF OF nononsense

19. Vasan | February 5th, 2007 at 6:42 am

was reading ur rediff chat Anurag.

was laughing my gut off…..

some singh typed : are you sleeping…
u say : no i am jerking off on the net
singh says: u are a dog
you: woof…woof..

hahahahahahhahahhaaaaa……

20. striker | February 5th, 2007 at 6:56 am

=)) vasan, i was just about to paste those snippets of the chat myself! great minds think alike ;)

these are great too…

yht asked, hello sir i have seen Black friday it is better than satya do u expect oscar
Anurag Kashyap answers, I expect Angelina Jolie.

KATHAP asked, 6850
Anurag Kashyap answers, ???

21. Pradeep | February 5th, 2007 at 9:07 am

link?:)

22. striker | February 5th, 2007 at 9:16 am

pradeep, here u go.. u’ll have to login with an ID..

http://www.rediff.com/movies/2007/feb/02chat.htm

23. Amit Mishra | February 5th, 2007 at 10:45 am

damn! i missed the chat :(( , and they dont have the transcripts up as of now.:(
hope to catch up with it when the transcripts are up.:-?

24. ashok | February 7th, 2007 at 3:02 am

Hi Anurag,
Great fan of your writing, but something has been bugging me about the movies that are recently made on communalism in India. Somehow most of them look like they follow a set formula. Show India and especially Hindus in bad light. The western media and festival circuit lap it up gleefully and voila, there’s an award and a lot of buzz in the media. I am NOT saying what they show is wrong but enough effort is not put in to give proper perspective to the film, like if it is set in the 40s or 50s, a little emphasis would be nice because a lot of my western friends ask me if that is how India “is” while in reality that’s how India “was”. Again, if its a a film about communal issues, the filmmakers have no problem sowing a Hindu “mob” attacking the crowd. Again, I am NOT saying Hindus don’t attack. I am just saying the fault is always on both sides but I get a feeling that most filmmakers are afraid of showing the minorities in bad light. Maybe they fear the media buzz. Maybe they are afraid of being branded as politically-incorrect/insensitive. The same with Hindu customs. I know most of them are ridiculous and should be exposed. But I never saw something like that about the Muslim community. I mean, Deepa Mehta has no problem “exposing” a lot of Hindu issues to the world and winning accolades for that. but how about a movie about a Muslim girl who doesn’t get justice because of a lack of support from the legal system? I just hope your Black Friday has the guts to show instances in which some Muslims were wrong rather than justifying the bomb blasts because of the babri demolition. At this point, i am a little disillusioned with the critically acclaimed movies about communal issues. They all seem to show only one side of the problem. I don’t blame a Parzania. I haven’t seen it but from what i heard from my friends, it sounds like a sincere attempt to show what happened. I just hope some other filmmaker or the same filmmaker has the guts to show the other side too. And I really hope you and your Black Friday stand up. My hope stems from the fact that you have nothing to lose. I mean, no one can accuse you of any “new” stuff, right? :)

25. Arijit | February 7th, 2007 at 8:56 am

Hi Anurag,
Just wanted to say that I’ll be at the premiere tomorrow at Metro Adlabs, with family no less! Hope I can meet you. Really looking forward to watching the movie on the big screen.
All the best, man.

26. rahul | February 9th, 2007 at 12:56 pm

Hi Mr. Kashyap,
your movie ends on Gandhiji’s famous line “Eye for an Eye, would make whole world blind”. do you really believe in him?Taking into view, about your past films which had justified violence, including BF as means of retalition. A foreigner comes and makes a film on him & wins 8 oscars, but in his own country he’s most hated man.If you speak with common public from Kashmir to Pakistan for all problems he’s considered responsible. How do you react to that?

27. Urmi | February 12th, 2007 at 12:00 am

Hey Anurag,
Don’t know if you remember this… but around 4 years back you came to an XIC class for a talk and screend Paanch there.
I remember, it was almost a rough cut and you had tales to narrate about Paanch. And then some brilliant minds asked you about what’s next.
I still remember how passionately you spoke about BF and its characters then. Your ghar ki murgi had already made its way through as Dawood, if I am not wrong.
(will cal him in a bit and tell him).
Honestly, I wanted to see what becomes of tht great story. You’ve done a great great job Anurag. Be proud of yourself, not just for making this film,
but also for not giving up.
Love your spirit. “Der hai… par andher nahi hai.”
Lovvveeed the dark humour in the most unexpected places. My personal fav. is the chor police chase with a tired chor and worse hawaldar… man! “ruk ja yaar”… :) hilarious.
Looking forward to No smoking now. But all said and done, Paanch still remains my first Fav. I’d love to have a copy… dunno how?

28. Urmi | February 13th, 2007 at 12:49 am

Hey Anurag,
Don’t know if you remember this… but around 4 years back you came to XIC class for a talk and screend Paanch there.
I remember, it was almost a rough cut and you had tales to narrate about Paanch. And then some brilliant minds asked you about what’s next.
I still remember how passionately you spoke about BF and its characters then. Your ghar ki murgi had already made its way through as Dawood, if I am not wrong.
(will cal him in a bit and tell him).
Honestly, I wanted to see what becomes of tht great story. You’ve done a great great job Anurag. Be proud of yourself, not just for making this film,
but also for not giving up.
Love your spirit. “Der hai… par andher nahi hai.”
Lovvveeed the dark humour in the most unexpected places. My personal fav. is the chor police chase with a tired chor and worse hawaldar… man! “ruk ja yaar”… hilarious.
Looking forward to No smoking now. But all said and done, Paanch still remains my first Fav. I’d love to have a copy… dunno how?

29. manjeet singh | February 13th, 2007 at 8:30 am

Anurag, Heard that the uncut version was almost 4 hours long. Did at any point of time there was a thought of possibility of spliting it in 2 parts. The material itself would have been a lot

BLACK FRIDAY-How it all began..PART 1

Posted by: Anurag Kashyap
Posted on: February 1, 2007, 11:48 pm

It all began with S.hussain Zaidi..He wrote the book..he was the chief crime correspondent of mid-day..before mid-day, zaidi was working with Indian Express, covering the blasts..all i remembeed about blasts before reading the book, was the front page of TOI in delhi and images in it..images came and they went away from my memory..i was too busy trying to figure out what to do once i reach bombay..93 was the year i came to the city..june 3rd..it was raining..rains that did not stop for two days..
Anyways..so hussain was approached by Penguin to document his findings in the book..as and when hussain finished his first draft he asked Arindam Mitra to read his manuscript…now i met arindam a year before that..he was trying to create some noirish , detective TV shows for mid-day..One day when i was as usual sitting depressed(i have come to a conclusion that i thrive in that state of mind or sometimes i actually go and create it), having my beer when Aditya Basu Bhattacharya called me..that was when babla(ABB) had just come back from italy and had seen paanch ,which i think was pretty radical at that time, not so much now..now babla asked me do i remember arindam mitra, i did..he said we want to meet you regarding some project..
we met at Bombay Blues in bandra..
Arindam wanted me to write a tv series on the bomb blasts which he wanted babla to direct..i was uncomfortable..Stories of Babla’s arrogance would float around, somehow i didn’t trust him then..i probably didn’t know him well..i love and respect the man immensely today..he was arrogant because he was passionate..he didn’t brush off mediocrity with a wave of his hand, he kicked it in the gut..but then i didn’t trust him..arindam gave me the unpublished manuscript..
i read it..and i read it again..i felt so small..all this while i had been so indifferent to everything else which wasn’t about me..i didn’t care about what was happening in the country..all the political elements that creeped into gulaal was post reading that book..the book gave me a perspective on what actually transpired..what happened that day..it made me feel worthless..i was affected by it in a way i was never before..i asked arindam ,”why not a film“..why a tv series..he said we will see that later but will you write the series..

“i would, but i still insist make a film”

“first write one episode anurag we need to raise money”

“ok but..”

“pl write it,tell me how much will you charge for the whole series..”

For the first time in my film career i was paid the entire writing fee upfront..i wrote the first episode, which later on became the landing of the RDX in the film..i kept insisting we should make a film..i also said i would like to direct the film..Arindam had babla in mind..he took his time then decided Mid-day will turn it into a film..i was so eager to make the film that Babla gracefully backed out..he told arindam, anurag should make the film..I will always owe it to him..now the question was how to go about it..by the time the book was officially released..

I think we started by talking to sony..sony was keen but they wanted big names..the budget was too high..we were working from that one episode that was written..the idea was too make the film for what we believed in and then later break it down into a six part miniseries..it didn’t work out with them..later RGV came on board..he said fuck the mini series ,just make the film..he already had in mind the way he wanted the film to be approached..i was uncomfortable with that..i was uncomfortable with RGV at that point..i told my fears to arindam..he wasn’t so comfortable either, but we had no choice..
another most important man at that point was CM(Chandra mohan Puppala)..he was our creative consultant on the movie and a kind of information backbone..he and AM were the pillars of Black Friday..we would talk and meet people try to raise money but we still didn’t have a script..we didn’t know how to go about it..we needed more material..i got two people on board to do research..Aparna Chaturvedi(now Mrs. Pavan Malhotra) and A film fanatic i met at the Lotus bookshop, Dr.Tushar Patel..they started by collecting all the officially available and unavailable material on the subject..later on they were joined in by Devashish Makhija..they had to sift through the archives of Mid-Day and Indian Express..Dev went to all the press photographers to get copies of all published and unpublished material..we got our hands on “VOICES“.. a kind of a manuscript of experiences of the accused that was compiled by the Torchholder for the accused, voices was of great help..it was taken out and circulated by the human rights activists..it gave us a broader perspective on the events..we got M J Akbar’s book,”WHEN BOMBAY BURNED”..A big help was Naresh Fernandes, now the editor of “TIMEOUT-MUMBAI“..A lot of journos came together for this one film..

But we still didn’t have the script..

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8 Responses to “BLACK FRIDAY-How it all began..PART 1”
1. kartik krishnan | February 2nd, 2007 at 12:06 am

shit the article just got over !!!! :((

yeh dil maange more …

Between .. what is aditya bhattacharya doing these days ??? Has he officially settled abroad ???

2. kaafir | February 2nd, 2007 at 12:58 am

ek din bas ek din, apne saare zakham gin, ek raat bas ek raat, tu soche kya hue hua tere saath,
bas ab aur nahin…………..
countdown begins……..saat.

3. Vasan Bala | February 2nd, 2007 at 1:17 am

RGV was to make/produce Black Friday !! o !!
thankful that u insisted on a film than a TV series.

4. VC | February 2nd, 2007 at 1:40 am

Wow…now on to the next part..It’s such a pleasure finishing one part and seeing that the next part is already online…no waiting…[Note to Oz…Finish off your stories…]

5. Phoenixnu | February 2nd, 2007 at 2:33 am

OZ, server sambhal bhai…server sambhal!!!!!! Kuch ho gaya to is baar hum tujhe nahi chorenge…ha ha ha.

Pavan malhotra…m big fan of that guy also. Never gt his due that he should…Hopefully after BF’s release. ( BTW, shld not use the shorter form BF…there was a movie made last year called Bad Friend…as BF..meghna naidu or someone,i think)

Anurag….gaane kaise bane…are ruk ja re bande…I lovvvvve that song…who decided for indian ocean…when, how, why ?

6. Honhaar Goonda | February 2nd, 2007 at 2:42 am

Areh Ruk Ja Reh Bandhe
Areh Thum Ja Reh Bandhe
Kudrat Haseee Padeghee..
Kise Tuh Kyar Kahe Gaya..

… erm, this song sort of perfectly describes Black Friday struggle… and now Kudrat Hasee Padeghe..

Indian Ocean rock! I would have liked it if Indian Ocean were doing the music for No Smoking, but I am slightly understanding why you have gone for Jazz - the film seems a bit sophisticated and suave.

7. Marty | February 7th, 2007 at 7:34 am

aunrag interval haan??

8. Aneesh | February 8th, 2007 at 1:05 pm

Can anyone, or Anurag Kashyap himself, please let me know where I could read the unflattering reviews that he wrote for Black. I really want to read his views.

SATYA-the true story PART 2

Posted by: Anurag Kashyap
Posted on: November 26, 2006 12:35 pm

Saurabh and me wrote a draft..he was simultaneously writing a play called KAAL..after we finished we came back to bombay..another thing i forgot to tell you..when saurabh met Ramu for the first time and Ramu narrated him what he had in mind..Saurabh spontanously came up with that scene where bhiku comes back home drunk and shefali slaps him and he slaps her back..Ramu was so goddamned impressed with him..

When we were thinking how do we name our characters..Ramu called his boy to make coffee for us..he said “Bhiku teen coffee”..and i said nice name..Satya was named after a woman called Satya..Someone Ramu knew back in college days..He just wanted her to know that he still rememberred her..Ramu was an engineering student..in some naxalite area in Andhra..then, when ever he got into trouble, he would strike a brucelee pose and make a eeyah sound to defend or protect himself..atleast thats what he told me..slowly all characters fell into place..

Ramu’s screenplay writer of Daud had been to Boston University Film Course..Gerard Hooper taught Cinematography there..he still teaches there..his two students made “THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT”..the writers name was KANNAN..kannan recommended Gerry..as he was fondly called..

We started shooting somewhere in August 1997..three days of shooting..third day we were shooting..it was that sequence where Sushant Singh came to collect hafta from satya and satya refuses and slashes him..the way sushant reacted..he improvised or i didn’t know what..Ramu reacted in a way i never saw him reacting..he said now i know what my film is all about and he trashed the script me and Saurabh wrote..he fucking trashed it..he also cancelled shooting the next day and guess what.. Gulshan Kumar was shot dead..Ramu stopped shooting..Underworld equations had changed..script needed to go through a change.. somedays after that was Daud’s release..i remember..because it rained so much that day that noone could reach the premiere venue on time..anyways..Daud bombed..i still fucking loved it..I thought Neeraj Vora rocked in that film..

so Ramu threw our script in the bin and we started rewriting script..Ramu always treated me like a kid..he was fond of me but never took me seriously..i was the kid in the gang..only other kid was Apoorva Asrani..the editor..Bhiku Mhatre’s laughter was never written into the film..he just laughed one day when we were shooting at his fictitious house in bandra..we loved it so much that it became his character..The first day we shot with the lawyer Mule..Makrand deshpande ,who played the character overacted so nmuch,the scene was never kept in that film..it was the scene where chandar appears in court..just before “goli maar”song..Mule was shown sleeping in the court..his Yawn was louder than Shakti kapoor..it just did not work.. at that time goli maar was not even ther in the film..the whole party sequence was shot on “Mera piya ghar aaya oh Raamji”..later the songs came into the film..Goli maar song had a different version..it went“gham ke neeche bam laga ke gham uda de”..sung to the same tune..Gulzaar sahab wroteb “goli Maar”..we all including Ramu and Vishal prefeered the GHAM version..but who would tell it to Gulzar sahab..i was known to be blunt, so they chose me to tell it to Gulzar sahab..next meeting with him ..they took me along ..and i said “sir gum work nahin karta” and he said,”Gum nahin gham,Pehle bolna seekho” andi was out of discussion..everyone agreed to Goli maar and thank god they did..what a song..


Rest later..a lot is coming back..all too random and all suddenly..need to sleep..

__________________________________________________________________

29 Responses to “SATYA-the true story PART 2”
1. manjeet | November 26th, 2006 at 12:39 pm

Kya baat hai!! Kal ki flight jayda subah ki nahin lagti:)

2. manjeet | November 26th, 2006 at 12:54 pm

Its such an insightful description of Satya. All the characters in the film are so unique There is something extraspecial about them. Now we know how Bhiku name came about! You have taught us the importance of improvisation and teamwork!
I am surprised after a long tough day you could right an article ^:)^

3. Sangeeta | November 26th, 2006 at 1:19 pm

Agree with Manjeets comments, this was definitely a useful post. As viewers small details like characters names esp unique ones are always niggling at me and i’m often question why this was done and how much improvisation is allowed etc.

4. george thomas | November 26th, 2006 at 1:47 pm

“so Ramu threw our script in the bin and we started rewriting script.” … Aha!
Anurag,
Once you’ve finished the current narrative till then, could you let us know what went into the bin?

5. striker | November 26th, 2006 at 1:58 pm

bhiku chai-boy becomes bhiku mhatre? wah bhai wah =D> anurag, any such real-life inspired characters in ‘no smoking’?

6. oz | November 26th, 2006 at 4:17 pm

- The scene that HIT ME THE MOST in this part - Your meeting with Gulzar-saab and he telling you “Gum nahin gham,Pehle bolna seekho” and you going “and I was out of the discussion” - CLASSIC!!! :)>-

7. oz | November 26th, 2006 at 4:19 pm

- Actually I love the original line “gham ke neeche bam laga ke gham uda de” - damn!!! too good!!!

8. randramble | November 26th, 2006 at 6:26 pm

Superlative stuff! It’s very insightful to know how things work and shape up.

The apparent lack of structure in your posts somehow makes it racy and interesting. AK, gimme more!

9. Sash | November 26th, 2006 at 9:18 pm

Hey..u tell us about everythg that happened in the making….giv us sum insights into wat u went through while wrkng on the script…
how was it to hav them dumped in the bin….
nd how do u motivate urself to begin wrk again rt frm the scratch….

guss that wud b interesting to know…

10. The truth about Satya at Blogbharti | November 26th, 2006 at 9:24 pm

[…] Part 1 here and Part 2 here. Must read for all Kashyap fans. Posted by Bombay Addict […]

11. Zero | November 26th, 2006 at 9:57 pm

Anurag,
Priceless insider’s account of a classic! Eagerly awaiting the future posts on the same!

>>the whole party sequence was shot on “Mera piya ghar aaya oh Raamji”
Just a bit of triviamongering, was the whole party sequence reshot or some of the original footage used? If I’m not wrong, the characters did mouth some lines of Goli Maar.

12. premal | November 26th, 2006 at 10:24 pm

yes sir, loving this article. wanted to know whether satya’s character was originally planned to be gup chup and that violent in heart zubaan pe taala type or bcoz chekri couldny utter hindi dialogs.

regards,

premal

13. premal | November 26th, 2006 at 10:26 pm

yes sir loving the article. wanted to know whther Satya’s character was originally planned as the violent from inside aur zubban pe taala type or bcoz chekri couldnt mouth hindi dialogues did prompt chracter changes.

regards,

premal

14. tushar | November 27th, 2006 at 12:48 am

I am still wondering how would the ‘gham’ line have fitted in where Goli maar did?

And also wondering about the entire Sushant Singh episode. Was Ramu ecstatic/annoyed/moved or what?

15. sophocles | November 27th, 2006 at 1:37 am

I would love to visualise you talking to Gulzar (he in his pristine white kurta payjama) and telling him that Gham doesnt work..and he tells you - pehle bolna to seekh lo…heh heh!! kya scene hota…

16. RK | November 27th, 2006 at 2:25 am

Ala Sanjay from Mahabharata epic: trying to visualize Gulzar Saab saying words “Gum nahin Ghum, pehle bolna sikho”. How he said it with his serius voice?
It more looks like Late Raaj Kumar saying “Jani, gum nahin Gham hota hai, pehle bolna seekho Raja”

But then one GK question always has always been confusing for all Indians” Who gave slogan of “Karo ya Maro” in 1942. It just does not resemble with image of Mahtma Gandhi. It damn looks like given by Neta Ji Subhash Bose, but then genius people are spontaneous and unpredicatble. I just loved this line of gulzar Saab. There is only one Gulzar! :)

Thanks Anurag for this sharing of past. The journey of making a great thing is not less than the product itself:)

17. Drupad Venugopal | November 27th, 2006 at 5:46 am

Hi Anurag,

Satya is a film that changed the way i looked at films..So reading about how satya was made is exhilarating…… :-) thanks a billion…

How i wish there was a new DVD release of SATYA with exclusive deleted,behind the scenes footage !!

How about you coming out with a book on the same..?? A compilations of ur writings about those days…!! it will be amazing…I know u r a busy man…but i think u shud give a serious thought to it…

Also before finishing, i must confess ur writing is extremely addictive…i mean i keep reading ur articles again n again n again n again……My company is surely gonna throw me out one of these days….:-)

All the best with ur film….

Plz continue writing…..

18. OM | November 27th, 2006 at 10:02 am

“Mule was shown sleeping in the court..his Yawn was louder than Shakti kapoor”

=))

Fantatsic post again!!!! Anurag..correct me if i am wrong but…in Satya i dont think Chander appears in court…it was some other guy..and i remember his dialogues which were fucking too good

” Maloom nai saab dubai se fone aaya..tapka ne ke liye kaha..tapka diya..”

19. Sudha Elavarti | November 27th, 2006 at 10:04 am

I am awestuck seeing the randomness in movie making. I always wonder what works…well bound script or random creativity. It’s hard to come to a conclusion as we had film makers with both approaches.

20. manjeet singh | November 28th, 2006 at 1:39 am

Anurag,

How about discussing any flaws present in final Satya. It would be so insane!

21. Rony D'costa | November 28th, 2006 at 4:33 am

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SHARING THIS WITH US….

22. v9y | November 29th, 2006 at 1:06 pm

Anurag:

As with almost every nonsensical-sounding Gulzar song, there’s another layer of profound thought in ‘golii maar bheje me.n’. But I am sure it must have been true for the discarded ‘Gam ke neeche bam lagaake..’ too. It would be great if that one gets used in some other movie.

Talking of songs in Satya, ’sapane me.n milatii hai’ also had wonderful and witty lines in conversational ‘aam bolchaal kii bhaaShaa’ like ’saaraa din sa.Dako.n pe Khaalii rikshe saa peechhe peechhe chalataa hai’ and ‘paajii hai, shareer hai, ghoomati lakeer hai, chakaraa ke chalatee hai’.

But on the whole I find that both the songs and the movie, while on their own are simply excellent, together do not work for me. There is a disconnect between them. While a couple of them actually slow down the story, the rest like the above two examples simply don’t fit in the scheme of things for me. Probably because Satya’s stark and real characterization was unprecedented, something seen never before in Hindi cinema (and unfortunately rarely after. Your very own ‘Black Friday’ is the only movie that I can recall offhand) and it demanded a different handling of songs. It may be something else that I cannot pinpoint right now, but to me, the songs remain Satya’s biggest (and probably only) kamajorii.

23. punit | December 5th, 2006 at 1:50 pm

“Ramu was an engineering student..in some naxalite area in Andhra..then, when ever he got into trouble, he would strike a brucelee pose and make a eeyah sound to defend or protect himself..atleast thats what he told me..slowly all characters fell into place..”=))=))=))=))=))=))=))=))=))=))=))=))=))=))=))=))=))=))=))=))=))=))=))

imagine ramu actually did that…….

24. Ashvin Sagar | December 15th, 2006 at 1:04 am

There goes the difference between Ramu Bhai’s film and any other Bollywood director, he has changed the way how Villainism in bollywood look, once upon a time…..a masked person first moves the photoframe and then rotates the small statue and then the door opens ..here goes the villain and Ramu Bhai…with his characters…satya…bhiku….kallu mama….vakil mule….man, this is what we call film making…..Anurag a great article man….really interesting and impressive.

25. cobain | January 3rd, 2007 at 1:24 pm

Anurag,
Thanks for the post. I just added Satya to my rental dvd list and moved it to the top. Somewhat like Satya - revisited.

Always wanted to understand how a story was written. Maybe this is where I start my journey.

26. shiva | January 5th, 2007 at 12:24 pm

hey anurag…..when are you going to finish this?…still waiting for the part 3….

27. DK | January 7th, 2007 at 11:31 am

Waiting for the rest of the story…pls hurry anurag:((

28. John L | January 16th, 2007 at 4:50 am

Seriously DK. My curiosity is ignited too.

29. Nilesh | January 16th, 2007 at 11:07 am

Thats awesome man!!! Ramu works purely on instincts. Satya is the film…which transformed me into a complete movie buff and changed the way I looked at films. Wat a film!!! Even, I loved Daud…and I felt Sanju was awesome.

SATYA- the true story PART 1

Published by: Anurag Kashyap
Published on: November 25, 2006 11:56 am

There never was a bound script..i did not write the whole film..nobody did..there is a whole lot of myth surrounding the film..it happened..like every other great film..like sholay happened..no individual created Satya..passion did..most of which came from ramu..his being open to moments, ideas, to instincts, created it..it was a different time..it was a different Ramu..

How it began..Ramu was making Daud..there was a new actor he was working with..it was manoj bajpai..i was there when he took that shot of Paresh going crazy and Manoj appearing from behind the door..Ramu fell in love with the shot..he fell in love with the actor..he fell in love with his intensity..he wanted to make an underworld film with him..he wanted to put Howard Roark in the underworld..thats how Satya started..

I met him..Manoj introduced him to me..i was supposed to be writing a film for Mahesh Bhatt which never got made..it was called GIRVI..Ramu asked me “have i read fountainhead..i had..i was an ayn rand fanatic then..i was twenty three..i said “yeah”..he said lets put him in the underworld..i said “wow”..he also had an ending in mind which he remembered from some James Hadley Chase novel..that ending remained..Howard Roark didn’t..

i started working on it ..he asked me how much money i wanted..i didn’t give a fuck about money..then..so i said “whatever’..we began work..whatever we wrote was not ther in the final film..anyways..after we started work Ramu left for Newzealand to shoot songs for DAUD..he disappeared from my life for two months..i thought this is not going nto happen..it was november 1996..February i got a call from him.. no mobile phones at that time..i had a pager..he paged me..he was serious..we made a one line order..Ramu has always worked with an one line order..never a script..this time he wanted a script..i still remember that first one line order..the opening scene was to be shot under the Milan subway..it never happened..

after the one line order was locked in..he wanted it to be written..he didn’t trust me with dialogues..he thought i was too young for it..he met vijay tendulkar for it..Ramu has been a fan of his since ardhasatya..

Vijay tendulkar wasn’t well..he wanted someone more mature..those days alot of people were talking about how Saurabh Shukla had done dialogues for ISS RAAT KI SUBAH NAHIN..saurabh has always brushed it off as just rumour..i had heard that too..but i knew him as a sometime playwrite from Delhi..i spoke about him to Ramu..Ramu offered him a double deal..to play Kallu Mama and write dialogues along with me .. he was to be the boss in that department..we were sent to Hyderabad..on his farmhouse..Ramu’s..At the Mumbai airport saurabh arrived late..he had the tickets..we missed the flight..we took the next one..

we worked more than a week ..we wrote something that looked and sounded like a script..we went back..we started shooting..we began in Goregaon with the chase sequence..the beginning chase..Gerard Hooper was the cameraman..i think i am jumping ahead..lets go back to naming the characters and casting..


but later..have a shoot in the morning..imagine doing this in the middle of my shoot..probably because i met Ramu today..later..

________________________________________________________________


9 Responses to “SATYA- the true story PART 1”
1. oz | November 25th, 2006 at 12:04 pm

- Damn!!!!!!!!!! I’m sucked into the story behind Satya and suddenly you end Part I… I liked the dynamics of your relationship with Ramu… you like his passion for cinema, yet disagree on some aspects… interesting…

2. VC | November 25th, 2006 at 12:30 pm

WOW !!! Cant wait for the next part…very very interesting…

3. OM | November 25th, 2006 at 12:49 pm

OMG!!!! Awesome Anurag…Would like to see this series going..ever since had a chat with kartik..i was so eager to know more about Satya and Bang!!!! Very strange…very strange whatever we have been talking off late( Oz, T! and myself) has been turning true….kinda scary sometimes…Saurabh Shukla’s dialouue writing was one of them ..lol!!

4. Pratim D Gupta | November 25th, 2006 at 12:51 pm

Dont you feel sad Anurag that Mr Varma has made Satya so many times now? Company, Sarkar… he calls them trilogy but it’s that same brooding feel, same ominous music, same low cam angles… it’s like deja vu really… godfather or apu trilogy each film stands on its own and is completely original… three films cant form a trilogy just stylistically… can it?

5. striker | November 25th, 2006 at 12:57 pm

ramu, anurag, manoj. birth of SATYA. deadly combination. WAITING EAGERLY ANURAG. JALDI!!

if i remember correctly, tina films int’l contributed the camera and equipment for this film?

6. IndianPad | November 25th, 2006 at 12:57 pm

SATYA- the true story PART 1 by Anurag Kashyap…

SATYA- the true story PART 1 by Anurag Kashyap posted at IndianPad.com…

7. Vipin | November 25th, 2006 at 1:56 pm

What a great post anurag.. waiting for 2nd part

Ramu made too many good movies.. once upon time we all waited for his movies and his factory productions too.. but probem happend bcoz he made soooo many movies and many of them fucking horrible movies… now i think he is out of mind.. and more than passion for cinema ..now he has passion for money..but still he is one of the truely talented filmmaker in india

8. striker | November 25th, 2006 at 2:03 pm

“it was a different time..it was a different Ramu..”

:-<  :( yes it was… yes… it was.

anurag, be blunt with the answer to this one.. since you know him better than any of us.. do you see any hope of vintage ramu making a return?

9. oz | November 25th, 2006 at 2:27 pm

- striker, I had asked AK the same question. His answer was a resounding YES… :d

10. Honhaar Goonda | November 25th, 2006 at 3:14 pm

(i have been refreshing the pfc blog continuously for last a couple of hours! I don’t wanna go to sleep cos…. taza khabar ka kuch aur hi maza hain )

Excuse me ignorance, but what is one line order?

kya striker.. ramu ka fan hokar bhi.. of course, you will see vintage ramu in Nishabd and Sholay. Always have some faith in the man. ;)

11. Anurag Kashyap | November 25th, 2006 at 4:38 pm

In order to return one has to be aware that he has left..Ramu doesn’t think he ever left..he still is as passionate, but more burdened with expectations, even bigger burden is of his own demi god status..he has lost objectivity..and yes from where i stand he definitely can return..but will he..i don’t know..just saw portions of Nishabd today..i don’t think i am looking forward to any of his films except Nishabd..i liked what i saw..

12. OM | November 25th, 2006 at 4:42 pm

Has the shooting been completed for Nishabd?

13. manjeet | November 25th, 2006 at 5:32 pm

wow! Thanks Anurag for sharing your experiences with us. Satya must PFC’s one of the all time favourite film!
Please put the Ram n Shyam part in the 2nd post on Satya!!

14. Vijay | November 25th, 2006 at 7:48 pm

Anurag yaar, aise suspense mein na chod. One of the all time greats of Indian cinema, it very thrilling to find out how the film was born. Looking forward to the rest your write-up.

15. striker | November 25th, 2006 at 7:59 pm

OM, yup.. shooting was completed about 3 months back.. they’re in post now.. in fact, have a friend who AD’d on it, and just got news from him last week that they were in dubbing. it should be hitting the screens by feb..

anurag, thx for that..

16. oz | November 25th, 2006 at 8:07 pm

- this has happened time and again and I’ve read in biographies of quite a few people in any film industry… question is how does one remain unaffected by the burden of being a “demi-god” status (adulation, superstardom and whatever we have there) and let the gears of creativity running completely in mesh with each other.

Would RGV ever come here and speak in first person basis? I hope he does rather than talking to the thousands of interviewers who have nothing deep to ask him besides his projects, heroines, heroes yada yada yada…

17. smritivij | November 25th, 2006 at 11:00 pm

reading anurag reading. May nothing in this world or beyond stop u any more. May the force be with u!!!!!

in solidarity!!

18. chaitanya | November 25th, 2006 at 11:54 pm

This is Superrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!The birth of Satya? Hell yes!!

AK: Did you or anyone else want the songs to be a part of Satya? (They were very good but one or two were out of place)

What was your first reaction when you saw a fucking 5 star rating for Satya in the Times of India? I know they say critics dont matter and all, but 5 stars and it’s hard to control your heartbeat, isn’t it?

How do you react now, as a person to the criticism that Satya glorified and sympathised with gangsters?

19. Zero | November 25th, 2006 at 11:59 pm

Anurag,
Wow! Looking forward to this series. Who would not love to hear a first person account on Satya!

20. ricky | November 26th, 2006 at 2:38 am

hi anurag…ver interesting info…can you also tell us how did rgv interact with his assistants then? did he take their suggestions? was he open to their ideas on a creative level? or were they just runners on the sets? heard that now he just interacts very rarely with his assistants on the set and doesnt even know the name of his assistants on the project he’s working on! guess now he’s not in a position to give a “break” to his assistants like he did earlier…by the way how did your short meeting with rgv go? did you also discuss his version of sholay which he had offered you to write at one point!

21. premal | November 26th, 2006 at 3:02 am

sirjee i want the full story. got so engaging..gotta complete it

22. Sash | November 26th, 2006 at 5:28 am

Hi Anurag,
Thkk ur doing a great job….met u at the screenwriters meet at pune ealy this yer.
waiting for your film to release soon….hoping that this one sure getz to see the light of the day…keep us posted…they r extremely exhilirating and in a way inspirational too…

23. george thomas | November 26th, 2006 at 6:22 am

Damn! There goes my Sunday. Now I’m waiting for Part II. Waiting. Waiting.

24. tushar | November 26th, 2006 at 8:39 am

cool food for thought on a sunday, Anurag’s beginning Satya diaries is very apt, looking at where we stand at PFC now in terms of film knowledge and richness of creative inputs of the industry and amateurs alike.
I dont agree that much has gone down with Ramu’s directive strength, he keeps giving a Sarkar n a Naach in face of all the spite-friendly ventures/’failures’.

and ya, Anurag, GURU ke baare mein bhi koi update do yaar :)

25. The truth about Satya at Blogbharti | November 26th, 2006 at 9:12 pm

[…] Part 1 here and Part 2 here. Must read for all Kashyap fans. Posted by Bombay Addict […]

26. Sudha Elavarti | November 27th, 2006 at 9:57 am

Good insight of the making of a master piece. The otehr day i was having a big discussion with my friend about Ramu. I had the same thing to say…he is definetly passionate and has a different vision and dares to try them, but the current Ramu is stuck at “I” “Me” “Myself”. Hope to see him back soon.

27. ricky | December 7th, 2006 at 12:38 am

hi anurag!waiting for your reply regarding my question about rgv and his interaction with his ad’s then and now…

28. Kartik Kothari | December 13th, 2006 at 3:56 am

Satya tops my list of favorite films and I know the film by heart now. It feels great getting behind the scenes of this classic. Waiting for more AK. And keep up the good work.

P.S. I am also waiting to see Black Friday hit the big screen.

29. Apurva | January 14th, 2007 at 10:49 pm

As u ve seen ramu and his passion for film do u think he will strike back with good work. For ramu i think zindagi ka maza khade mein hai and i think ghade mein talent duub raha hain bachaa le usko

Appu