Dear Visitmario....
Whatever you think is right. And it applies for everyone around. Including me.
You find Anurag Kashyap overrated. You are right.
But since you want a discussion on your opinion....here it is....
I dont think he is overrated at all.
He is among the best writers in the Hindi film industry today, if not THE best...
Do you know what are the movies he has written? Plz let me remind you....
He started his career with Satya(1998)and followed it with Kaun (1999)
If you find the writing in these two films not worthy, you should not read my next words. Because if you feel Satya and Kaun were badly written, with "loose ends" and "no closure", that means you have a very different cinema sensibility and there is no need for us to talk further.
But if you accept the brilliance of these two scripts, plz read on...
He wrote the dialogues of 'Shool'(1999) and 'Nayak'(2001)...
And then brilliantly adapted the non-fiction work of Zaidi into an engrossing drama, which is known as 'Black Friday'(2007). If you can, please go through the book, and it will fall upon you, how amazingly he has crafted the screenplay, going backwards in each flash back to the point where it all started, and then jump cutting to the blasts and it ends...
Meanwhile, he wrote the dialogues of 'Yuva'(2004), 'Mixed Doubles'(2006) and 'Water'(2007). Have you seen these movies? DO you realize the importance of the dialogues in these films?
I have not mentioned his poor works. I do not think we can talk about 'No SMoking' here. It will trigger another debate altogether, coz believe it or not, there have been diametrically opposite views on this film as well.
'Dev D' and 'Gulaal', the latest of his offerings. Well. two complicated films. two difficult films. two films which improve with every subsequent viewing. layered characterization. grey tones. gutsy lines. inventive structure. but yet, flawed here and there.... I believe he could have written these two films better, just because he is co capable of doing it.....his capacity as a writer is yet to be explored....he is yet to do his best....
as a dialogue writer, I feel only Vishal Bhardwaj comes close to him....who is better is debatable, I will go for both.
as screenplay writer, he is the most inventive and innovative person in our industry....perhaps not as convincingly brilliant as he actually is....but anyone who knows film writing, knows what AK is made of....
By the way, I believe the recent Anurag-worshipping is happening more so coz of his directorial abilities....people actually fail to recognize his merits as a writer.....
I won't say he is underrated....i would just say that we have not yet seen the best of him as a writer....he will surely outdo his best work...'Satya' in the days to come....
and about him being overrated? just check this out:
remember the character of the broker, who took Dilip and his elder brother to 'Democracy Beer Bar' at the beginning....just go through that scene again...
In a film industry where even the lead actors do not have a defined character, this man, in this 2 minute part, has a character biography(his grandparent or someone was murdered by the maharaja), a point of view, clearly defined mannerisms and a personal sense of humour....
Well that is film writing, carving unforgettable characters out of nothing...
I know when the audio-visual runs, the merits of the words on the paper are lost...and hence this thread....
but yet,
whatever you think is right, and the same applies to everyone else.
this is cinema, a work of art.
if you are willing for a critical, constructive debate....most welcome...
if not....well we part ways....
see you soon....
as AK comes up with his next....
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