'In Flames' hits you hard in the gut: Anurag Kashyap lauds Pakistani film

Indian filmmaker Anurag Kashyap is representing his country at the prestigious Cannes film festival. The director, whose neo-noir thriller Kennedy is set to premiere at midnight on Wednesday at the 76th Cannes Film Festival, is nothing but praises for his Pakistani counterpart, Zarrar Kahn and his latest offering, In Flames.

The Mumbai-based filmmaker kicked off a panel discussion in the Canadian Pavilion at the ongoing festival on the theme of South Asian Stories in a Global Film Market, where Kahn was also a part of the said panel, reported Deadline.

"In Flames,” Kashyap said, "is so much more than a moody horror film. It talks about society, pulls out everything, and shows it bare naked. That hits you so hard in the gut.” He added, "I am a genre film freak. Genres evolved as a response to all kinds of repression. What were zombies if not Nazis?”

Kahn, on the other hand, responded with more praise for the renowned filmmaker. "In Pakistan, Bollywood films are banned but we love to consume them. They were so larger than life that I was like we can never make those films. They are out of scale of what is possible,” Kahn said. "Watching the films of Anurag Kashyap gave us the palette and the landscape for films that we could make in Karachi. I am grateful to him for creating that kind of cinema and blazing that trail,” he went on to add.

The Gangs of Wasseypur maker then credited filmmakers such as Mira Nair, Deepa Mehta, Gurinder Chadha and Shekhar Kapur for showing the way. "Without what they achieved we would not even attempt what we are making,” he said.

The award-winning director believes that the current upswing in independent cinema on the subcontinent is being fuelled by fearless young producers willing to put their money where their mouth is. ”It is a new crop of producers who have made all the difference,” he said. "They have made it possible for a stream of remarkable independent films to be made,” he added.

The panelists also touched on the rise of nationalism and censorship in India. “I’ve always told myself that the best Iranian cinema came out of the most challenging times, so there’s always a way around,” said Kashyap. "Every time I lose hope, I go and look at those films. If they can do it, what are we complaining about? I genuinely think the best of our creativity comes out in adversity. Especially genre filmmakers, they always find a way to tell their story, and that’s what changes society.”

Kahn said, "My heart goes out to the Indian film industry because what’s happening now looks a lot like what we went through in Pakistan in the 1970s.” He also said international film festivals and labs are crucial for bringing filmmakers from across South Asia together: “I went to Busan’s Asian Film Academy and met people from India, Nepal and Sri Lanka that I could never have met in Pakistan," Kahn said.

In Flames, Cannes Directors’ Fortnight selection, had its world premiere at the prestigious film festival on May 19. The movie is set to screen at Cannes until May 27. According to Variety, it is the first Pakistan-set film in Directors’ Fortnight since Jamil Dehlavi’s The Blood of Hussain in 1980.

Produced by Anam Abbas and executive produced by Shant Joshi, Todd Brown and Maxime Cottray, In Flames is part of XYZ’s New Visions slate. The women-centred film stars actors Rameesha Nawal, Bakhtawar Mazhar, Adnan Shah Tipu and Omair Javaid.

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