Anurag Kashyap

Born September 10, 1972, Anurag Kashyap is a bollywood screenwriter and director who is critically acclaimed for his works in films like Black Friday (2004), a controversial and award-winning Hindi film about the 1993 Bombay bomb blasts, followed by No Smoking (2007), Dev D (2009) and Gulaal (2009).

Awards & Recognitions

As a screenwriter, he wrote the scripts for the Filmfare Award winning Satya (1998) and the Academy Award nominated Canadian film Water (2005). He is considered one of the most versatile and gifted filmmakers in contemporary Hindi cinema.

In 1999, Kashyap won the the Best Screenplay award for Satya at the Star Screen Awards . The next year, his short film Last Train to Mahakali won the Special Jury Award at the same awards.

Directorial Debut-

Anurag's feature film debut Black Friday, won the Grand Jury Prize at the 3rd Annual Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (2005) and was a nominee for the Golden Leopard (Best Film) at the 57th Locarno International Film Festival in 2004.

Early life and background

Birth Place
Anurag Kashyap was born in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, where his father worked for the state electricity board.

Education
He did his schooling first in Dehradun, and age eight onwards, at the Scindia School in Gwalior. He was fascinated with films right from childhood, and even at age five, would watch Hindi films like Kora Kaagaz and Aandhi at a nearby film club and open-air theater. This came to an end once he began his schooling.

Career

Since Kashyap wanted to become a scientist, he went to Delhi for his higher studies and enrolled himself into a Zoology course at the Hansraj College (University of Delhi). He graduated in 1993. During his college days, he started watching films and also got involved with drugs and alcohol. He was confused and depressed, and had joined a street theater group, Jana Natya Manch; he ended up doing a lot of street plays.The same year, a couple of friends introduced him to world cinema; they urged [him] to catch a de Sica retrospective" at the International Film Festival of India.In ten days, he ended up seeing a total of 55 films at the festival and de Sica's "Bicycle Thieves" was the film that influenced him the most; watching it was an epiphany.

Personal Quotes
"Movies from all different perspectives and in a way you can say that these films changed my life and it’s meaning completely for me. Just
that one film festival and I decided that this is what I want to be a part of - in next five months I was in Mumbai."

He is the member of International Film And Television Club of Asian Academy Of Film & Television. Starting out as writer for television, in late 1990s, Anurag moved to cinema, with Ram Gopal Verma's acclaimed Satya (1998), followed it up with string of films for him, including Shool (1999), Kaun? (1999) and finally Yuva (2004), for which he wrote the dialogues. He made his debut with film Paanch, with Kay Kay Menon as the lead in 2000, the film ran into Censor Board troubles and didn't get released till 2003. He adapted Stephen King's 1978 short story Quitters, Inc. to No Smoking (2007), which despite being received well by critics, didn't do well at the box-office

In March 2009, while announcing steering away from screenwriting, after his current assignments to concentrate on direction, Anurag also announced two new film projects, Bombay Velvet, with John Abraham, a thriller based on real incidents in 1960s, to be followed by Doga, based Doga comics series .

Filmography

Director

* Last Train to Mahakali (1999) (short film/ tele film for the series Star Bestsellers)
* Paanch (2003) (unreleased)
* Black Friday (2004)
* No Smoking (2007)
* Hanuman Returns (2007)
* Dev D (2009)
* Gulaal (2009)
* Rajuben (2009) (TV series, Specials @ 10)
* Mumbai Cutting (segment "Pramod Bhai 23") (2009) (under production)

Writer

* Auto Narayan (1995) (docu-drama)
* Trikaal (TV series) (1996)
* Kabhie Kabhie (1997 TV series) (1997) (writer)
* Satya (1998)
* Kaun (1999)
* Shool (1999)
* Last Train to Mahakali (1999)
* Jung (2000)
* Yuva (dialogue)
* Nayak: The Real Hero (2001)
* Paanch (2003) (writer)
* Paisa Vasool (2004)
* Black Friday (2004) (screenplay)
* Deewaar (2004)
* Water (2005) (dialogue)
* Mixed Doubles (2006) (dialogue)
* Main Aisa Hi Hoon (2005)
* Shoonya (2006) (dialogue)
* Valley of Flowers (2006) (Hindi dialogue)
* Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd. (2007) (dialogue)
* Shaka Laka Boom Boom (2007)
* No Smoking (2007) (screenplay) (story)
* Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal (2007) (dialogue)
* Lajjo (2007)
* Meridian (2007)
* Hanuman Returns (2007) (writer)
* Dev D (2009) (writer)
* Gulaal (2009) (screenplay and dialogue) (story)

Creative Producer

* Aamir (2008)

Actor

* Black Friday (2004)
* Luck by Chance (2009)
* Dev.D (2009) Cameo appearance
* Gulaal (2009) Cameo appearance