'Gangs of Wasseypur' director Anurag Kashyap was bored of making gangster movies

Celebrated Indian filmmaker, Anurag Kashyap is set to premiere his new film Kennedy at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival. This is not the first time that Kashyap has presented his work at Cannes, having previously showcased several of his gritty and dark films at the festival. The movie Kennedy features actors Sunny Leone and Rahul Bhat in significant roles, and the director has shared the official poster on Instagram.

In an interview with Variety, Kashyap explained why he decided to make his previous film Almost Pyaar with DJ Mohabbat, which was a departure from his usual style. The director stated that he only works on projects that he is interested in and will not do anything that does not excite him. After his previous film, Psycho Raman, he found himself in a difficult phase, and during the lockdown, he wrote many scripts for other people.

“I’ve liked everything that I’ve done,” said the filmmaker while in conversation with Variety. “For me personally, I will not do what I don’t want to do. But sometimes in between, after Psycho Raman came a phase where this whole Phantom [the company set up by Kashyap and his partners that shuttered] fiasco that happened, the lockdown that happened, there were a lot of things going on.”

“I worked a lot on other people’s scripts,” he continued. “I wrote a lot of other people’s scripts and the only one that I wrote was Almost Pyaar with DJ Mohabbat, which was an idea that originated out of nowhere and I wanted to explore that because I was bored of people always expecting me to go back and create another gangster movie. Unless you get something new and exciting that happens why would I do it?”

The romantic musical Almost Pyaar with DJ Mohabbat starred Karan Mehta and Alaya F and dealt with contemporary young relationships and their struggles with age-old prejudices and predatory behaviour. Kashyap explained that he took up this project because he wanted to explore something new and was tired of people expecting him to make another gangster movie.

Almost Pyaar with DJ Mohabbat was released in theatres on February 3, 2023, and was made available for streaming on Netflix on March 31. Presented by Good Bad Films and Zee Studios, the film has been well-received by audiences and critics alike. With Kennedy set to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, fans of Anurag Kashyap eagerly await his latest offering.

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