Looking back: Director Anurag Kashyap was casted-off Salman Khan starrer”Tere Naam’ – slept on footpath worked as sweeper
Looking back: Director Anurag Kashyap was casted-off Salman Khan starrer”Tere Naam’ – slept on footpath worked as sweeper
Meet director Anurag Kashyap, an outsider, with no links in the film industry, shaped himself to be one of the biggest names in the entertainment world later.
He gave Bollywood its biggest cult classic films like
Gangs of Wasseypur. But many may be unversed that once he was once casted-off Salman Khan starrer “Tere Naam” after he asked the actor to grow his chest hair. Well! He really came a long way.
His journey is an inspiration to many.
Markedly, Anurag had no plans to become a filmmaker or to enter Bollywood, rather he wanted to be a scientist and was pursuing his study for it.
He studied Zoology from Delhi and wanted to be honoured with a Nobel prize. However, he gave up on his dreams when he ‘discovered’ his hidden passion and talent.
In 1993 when he wanted to make an entry to Bollywood, the ‘Mecca’ of Mumbai, at that time around, outsiders were not celebrated in the industry as it was ruled by big Bollywood families.
He remembers that, his entry to the Prithvi Raj Kapoor founded ‘Prithvi Theatre was banned. Then left with no option, he took up a job as a waiter to just get an entry sweeping the stage to spend more time inside the theatre and used to write free scripts for people when satellite television had just come in.
In one of his interviews, the filmmaker revealed that in the initial days, he had to shell out Rs 6 to sleep on the footpath.
Amidst his interaction with Mashable India’s The Bombay Journey, Kashyap articulated that there was a garden in the middle of the Juhu circle back then without any signal. He used to sleep there, but, sometimes he used to be kicked out by the civic body officials. Then he went to the Versova link road, where there was a big footpath. People used to sleep there in a line. But had to pay Rs 6 to sleep there.
Coming to the film Tere Naam, featuring Salman Khan and Bhumika Chawla, from which he was casted-off, it gained popularity under Satish Kaushik’s direction.
Initially, Anurag Kashyap was supposed to direct the film since he had written the script but had to leave the project at Salman Khan’s request.
Surprisingly, the reason behind Anurag’s departure was related to chest hair. Anurag wanted Salman to grow chest hair for authenticity as the character belonged to North India. But he never imagined that due to this request, there were disagreements, leading to ouster from the project.
Later, actor Satish Kaushik took over as the director, and “Tere Naam” went on to become a memorable film in Salman Khan’s career.
News Edit K.V.Raman
