Anurag Kashyap Rips Into “Dishonest, Morally Corrupt” Netflix India As He Praises ‘Adolescence’
Anurag Kashyap has called out Netflix for what he sees as “hypocrisy” in approving content for the Indian audience, sharing a lengthy note expressing his frustration.
Anurag Kashyap slammed Netflix India as he launched a scathing attack on the top brass of the streaming giant for showing “hypocrisy”. He also criticised the platform for not greenlighting enough original path-breaking content for the Indian audience. It all started with the ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’ director praising the recently-released Netflix four-part drama ‘Adolescence’, saying seeing such content makes him jealous that Indian filmmakers are not being given the same freedom.
Taking to Instagram on Wednesday, Anurag Kashyap praised the British show, saying, “I am numb and envious and jealous that someone can go and make that. The performances from the Child actor Owen Cooper and Stephen Graham, who is not just playing the father but is also the co-creator of the show. The amount of hard work that has gone in the show. I can’t even imagine the rehearsals and prep they did, so they could shoot every episode in a single shot.”
It was then that Anurag Kashyap took to the comments section, listing down his complaints to Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos and Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria.
“Now coming to my envy and jealousy. Ted Sarandos recently put a post where he says - every once and awhile one comes along that pushes into brand new territories, defies the limits of creativity and features career defining performances. And I hope he means it. Because his on Netflix.in is a totally opposite s**tshow. If they were pitched this, most probably they would have rejected it or turned it into a 90 minute film (that too seems like an impossibility because it doesn’t have an ending that is black and white),” he said.
The filmmaker said that he dealt with “lack of empathy” from the streaming company when he was making 'Sacred Games' for the platform alongside Vikramaditya Motwane.
“Having gone through twice with them post Sacred Games and dealing with total lack of empathy , courage and dumbness mixed with immense insecurity of the series head and the team that keeps getting fired. It frustrates me. How do we ever create something so powerful and honest with a bunch of most dishonest and morally corrupt @netflix.in backed so strongly by the boss in LA,” he said.
“This hypocrisy of Ted and Bella via a vis the Indian market of 1.4 billion people, where their only interest is an increase in subscriptions and nothing else. There was a time when Eric Barmack would reach out on Facebook to create something with Netflix to now where they send you a shot show like “saare jahan se achcha" - which wasn’t even written properly and half baked. Which by the way has already changed directors and been shot twice (inevitably). It makes me frustrated, jealous of shows like Adolescence and envious and hopeless,” he added.
Speaking further, he said, “I hope they learn from the reception of it and realise that all the best things Indian Netflix does is mostly either acquired (Delhi Crime, Black Warrant) or the ones they least believed in (Kohrra, Trial by Fire). Fingers crossed for a better future.”
Coming back to 'Adolescence', the British series has been created by Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham. The plot revolves around a 13-year-old boy and how his parents' life changes after he is accused of murder. Each scene in the series has been shot in one take. The miniseries was released on March 13.
