She is the best actor, can’t afford her… Anurag Kashyap heaps praises on Alia Bhatt

Actress Alia Bhatt is one of the finest actresses of today’s time. The actress’ film ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi’, which released last year, played an important role in reaching her to this point. Alia received the National Film Award for Best Actress for her performance in the film. Amidst all this, Bollywood industry’s famous filmmaker Anurag Kashyap has praised Alia Bhatt in one of his recent interviews. In the interview, the filmmaker described Alia as the ‘best performer’ and said that he cannot afford the actress to work in his films. This interview of Anurag has been making headlines on social media since last day.

Speaking to Zoom Entertainment, filmmaker Anurag Kashyap said, ‘I think Alia is one of the best actors in the country. I always reach out to him after seeing his work. But when I do not like any of his work, I remain silent. If it doesn’t affect the budget and dynamics of my film, I would love (to work with him), but it has to come from the other side as well. Anurag continued, ‘I don’t believe in wishful thinking. I don’t chase actors more than once. If they ask me to make adjustments to the script, I do so, but mostly, their hesitation makes me hold back. Because if his heart isn’t in it, you can tell right away on screen.’

In an earlier interview, Anurag Kashyap had talked about the Hindi box office. In this interview he told how Hindi box office is controlled by box office and star system. Anurag said, ‘I think because there is a template in Hindi. It is also heavily controlled by the business, box office and star systems. That’s the case in the south too, but look at the Tamil film industry, they have given five hits with first-time filmmakers, not big stars. There is a certain similarity. In Malayalam, they don’t do that much promotion, just directly release their movies. In Tamil Nadu, everyone is given equal amount, there is a limit to it. But here the promotion of the big film dominates and the small film disappears.

During the interview, Anurag mentioned an anecdote about how his film ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’ was pulled from the theaters as soon as Salman Khan’s ‘Ek Tha Tiger’ came out. Anurag said, ‘Theater owners also do not give space, but equal space is given there. Today people talk a lot about Gangs of Wasseypur, but it was pulled from the theaters within nine days because a big film like Ek Tha Tiger was coming. It was not the decision of any star or producer, it was the decision of the theatres. If that film had done a business of Rs 26 crore in nine days, it would have done even more business if it had got the slot.