Filmmaker and actor Anurag Kashyap has previously opened up about a dark phase in his life, revealing that he suffered from “massive depression” and had to go to rehab three times after his daughter faced threats and online trolling. This occurred in 2019, a time when the filmmaker became the target of trolls after voicing his opinions against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and participating in the anti-CAA protests at Jamia Millia Islamia University. To preserve his mental health, Kashyap had to leave Twitter due to the constant negativity and threats directed at his family.
In an old interview with indianexpress.com, Kashyap reflected on that time, saying, “I imploded. I went into massive depression. But I kept working throughout. See, my way of dealing with things is to go to films, where I pour out everything. Maine Mukkabaaz (2017), Sacred Games (2018-2019), Lust Stories (2018), Ghost Stories (2020) kiya, aur yeh (Almost Love With DJ Mohabbat) bhi kar raha tha. The film had started already in London, because that was the time I had left from here (India).”
Kashyap explained that he had to step away from Twitter to protect his daughter from the online harassment she was experiencing. “I went off Twitter because my daughter started getting trolled, getting rape threats, and she started getting anxiety attacks. So I went off Twitter in August 2019, and I went to Portugal. I was shooting for Almost Love With DJ Mohabbat in London, and then when the whole Jamia Millia thing happened, I came back to India. I was like, yeh mujh se bardaaasht nahin ho raha hai, koi kuchh bol nahin raha hai (I can’t bear it, no one is speaking up). I started speaking (on Twitter) again.”
The challenges kept coming for Kashyap. As his daughter dealt with anxiety due to the threats, the shoot for Almost Love With DJ Mohabbat was halted because of the Covid-19 lockdown. “I was shooting this (Almost Love) in Dalhousie, and then the lockdown happened. Overnight, the crew had to leave the hotel, aur hamaari film incomplete reh gayi (and our film remained incomplete).”
Kashyap also spoke about the Tandav controversy, when the makers were accused of hurting religious sentiments, and how it further impacted him. One of his own projects was stalled in the aftermath of the controversy, which took a toll on his mental and physical health, leading to a heart attack. “Then this Taandav (the 2019 web-series on Amazon which ran into trouble) thing happened, and one of my projects got stalled because of that. I totally imploded. I went off Twitter completely. I went into rehab three times, had a heart attack, my health went down, I didn’t know how to deal with it.”
The filmmaker, however, kept working and that kept him sane. He said, “Then slowly, I crawled back. I’m myself now. But I still went on making films. I made Dobaara. Unlike other people, I don’t have the luxury to sit and wait. I don’t do massive budget films which can sustain my people, my team.”
The Tandav controversy led to several web series and films being shelved or reworked. Kashyap’s adaptation of Suketu Mehta’s Maximum City for Netflix was one such project. The cancellation deeply affected him, and he began drinking heavily. “Maximum City was where all my energy went. I was heartbroken. I completely lost it,” Kashyap told The Washington Post.
Anurag Kashyap last directed Rahul Bhat in Kennedy. He has also been taking up acting roles, appearing in Gulshan Devaiah’s Bad Cop. He also had cameo appearances in Vijay’s Leo and Vijay Sethupathi’s Maharaja.
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