“People call me controversial, rabble-rouser, dark — all terms by people who expect one kind of behaviour (from me),” said Anurag Kashyap in a 2012 interview with Hindustan Times. It’s been 10 years since that interview but not much has changed in terms of the way people perceive the filmmaker. He is undoubtedly one of Bollywood’s most talented and blatantly honest directors. Known for his tongue-in-cheek remarks, Kashyap has often landed himself into controversies. Here are the some of the most shocking ones.

Mandana Karimi’s Confession

Mandana Karimi (Kya Kool Hain Hum 3) is one of the contestants in Kangana Ranaut’s reality show, Lock Upp, and she has been seen making some shocking revelations about her love life. The actress shared details about an abortion. In her confession, she said when she was going through her divorce, she got into a relationship with a popular director. She was at a point where she didn’t trust men in general, but that person pretended to be a friend.

She said, “In the outside world, he talks about women’s rights. He talks about how women have to be independent, how women have to take their power into their own hands, and he is someone who is an idol to many people, the young generation who want to become filmmakers.” Karimi added her relationship went on for a year and a half. She kept it secret as she was not yet divorced and did not want anyone to know about it. She said, “He told me he wanted to move out of India with me. We should plan a family, and we did plan a pregnancy. But when it actually happened, he completely backed off.”

Karimi said he did not tell her directly. She said, “One day, he said we should go and meet my best friends as they were like parents to me. When we went there, he suddenly started saying he was not emotionally ready to become a father again. The next thing I know, he was asking me to have an abortion where everything was planned.”

Sexual harassment charges

Anurag Kashyap was accused by actress Payal Ghosh of sexual harassment. In an interview with ABN Telugu, Payal spoke about the incident and shared that the director allegedly took assaulted her in a hotel room. Payal also claimed that Kashyap said that it was okay because other actresses he has worked with including Huma Qureshi, Richa Chadha, and Mahie Gill were a call away. She said that she felt very uncomfortable with that incident and had to tactfully get away from that situation. Anurag denied all accusations later through a series of tweets.

Anurag on Big B

In 2005, when filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s film Black was released, which saw Amitabh Bachhan and Rani Mukherjee in pivotal roles, Anurag Kashyap took a dig at the former’s acting skills and it did not go down well with the megastar. The incident was not escalated much, however, five years later the Choked director was at it again when he posted a comment on a social media site saying that the 77-year-old actor was responsible for pushing the release date of Shonali Bose’s Chittagong so that Abhishek Bachchan’s Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey got better profit. Senior Bachchan called this “baseless”.

Anurag Kashyap on Salman Khan

Soon after Sushant Singh Rajput’s death, people started debating about nepotism and the dark side of Bollywood. During that time, Anurag Kashyap accused Salman Khan and his brothers, Arbaaz and Sohail Khan, of sabotaging the late actor’s career. In a long social media post on Facebook, he also alleged that the bullying and gaslighting affected his mental health. Earlier, Kashyap blamed Arbaaz Khan for the alleged fallout between him and his brother Abhinav Kashyap.

Anurag Kashyap on Karan Johar

Anurag was on Karan Johar’s Koffee with Karan, and he lost his cool on the show when he was asked to pick between Hrithik, Abhishek, Salman, and SRK. Anurag was also alleged to have called it a crappy show, and an upset Karan retorted saying that he perhaps needed a psychiatrist.

Anurag Kashyap on Ram Gopal Varma

In 2007, when Ram Gopal Varma made Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag, Anurag had said that the director had lost the plot. Then in Koffee with Karan, when Karan said, “Ram Gopal Varma is…” Anurag stopped him and said, “Ram Gopal was, he is not ‘is’ anymore.” Ramu later got a chance to get even when Anurag’s Bombay Velvet flopped. 

(Featured Image Credits: Instagram)