Despite Imtiaz Ali and Anurag Kashyap‘s vastly different filmmaking styles and themes, their relationship dates back to their undergraduate days at different colleges under the University of Delhi. Recently, Ali took a trip down memory lane and recalled the time when Kashyap attempted to make it as an actor.
While taking part in the second edition of Expresso, a specially curated six-part series from The Indian Express, Ali playfully teased Kashyap, saying he still hasn’t given up on his dream of becoming an actor. “When I was in the second year (of his undergraduate degree), someone came to meet me at my college hostel. He said, ‘I heard you are involved in some TV programme that is about to happen,’ and I was. He said, ‘My name is Anurag Kashyap. I am from Hansraj College and I also stay at the hostel.’ He wore glasses back then thinking that made him look cool. Then he showed a lot of photographs of himself. That was what a portfolio was, which I had never seen before. I was thinking why has he clicked himself in different poses. Then he explained it to me. He was the first actor to struggle with me,” Ali recalled.
“I was so impressed. This guy was so sorted and well ahead of the curve. Unfortunately, that programme didn’t take off. Everybody wants to take revenge. Since I didn’t give him a role, he thought he will give me a role and torture me,” Imtiaz Ali said reminiscing about his cameo appearance in Anurag Kashyap’s Black Friday (2004). “That’s how my hair has grown. I had short hair back then and it was time for me to get a haircut. He said I look exactly like the criminal I have to play. ‘Sir, ab toh exactly waise hi ho, Yakub Memon ki Tarah (Now you look exactly like Yakub Memon).’ It was good shooting with him,” he said.
“He is ahead of the curve as an artiste. Both of us have spent a lot of time together. I am happy about the way we have run parallel to each other all these years. I draw a lot of strength and courage from him… more than I give him,” the filmmaker added.
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