Filmmaker-actor Anurag Kashyap, who made his acting debut in the Malayalam film Rifle Club, alongside Hanumankind, recently announced that he will be moving out of Mumbai in 2025 after being "disappointed" and "disgusted" by the film industry, stating that the joy of filmmaking has been "sucked out."
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter India, Anurag said it is difficult for him to experiment with his work, as it comes with a cost, making it challenging for producers to focus on profit and margins. "I am going to the South. I want to go where there is stimulation. Otherwise, I will die as an old man. I am so disappointed and disgusted by my own industry. I am disgusted by the mindset," he added.
Further, he shared that a film like Manjummel Boys would never be made in Hindi, but as soon as it's a hit in Malayalam as the Hindi film industry never want to try anything new.
Anurag blamed the talent agencies for sending actors to the gym instead of workshops. Calling the first-generation actors painful, he said, "Nobody wants to act—they all want to be stars. The agency won’t make anybody a star, but the moment someone becomes a star, the agency makes money off them. The onus of finding talent is on you—you have to take a risk and firefight with 50 people."
"And when the film is made, the agency grabs them and turns them into a star. They will brainwash them and tell them what they need to do to become a star. They won’t send them to workshops but to the gym—it’s all glam-glam because they have to be massive stars," he added.
Anurag stated that talent agencies are focusing on making money and showing little interest in building new careers. He also expressed disappointment with actors whom he once considered friends. "My actors, whom I thought of as friends, ghost you because they want to be a certain way. That happens mostly here; it doesn’t happen in Malayalam cinema," he concluded.
