Basil Joseph told Anurag that he ‘wasted’ two years to make Shaktimaan, say Anurag Kashyap

Anurag Kashyap

Nishaanchi director Anurag Kashyap has recently entered the other film industry in the south as an actor and has moved away from the Bollywood.

The director in an interview with Chalchitra Talks, Anurag remembered the time when he bumped into Malayalam actor and filmmaker Basil Joseph at an award show who at that time wanted to make Shaktimaan.

The director said that Basil told him remarking that he ‘wasted’ two years over the superhero film in Bollywood.

When Basil directed Minnal Murali, a Malayalam film starring Tovino Thomas, in 2021, he was hailed as the next big thing.

With Ranveer Singh now rumoured to be playing the lead in the on-screen version of the popular TV series Shaktimaan, there was talk of him breaking into Hindi. After four years now the project appears to have been put on hold.

During the interview Anurag Kashyap revealed that Basil praised him for him for his work and spoke to him about his project.

He said, “I met Basil Joseph recently because I went to the Malayala Manorama awards. He has done such good acting…I’ve never seen such a good common man hero protagonist, antagonist, whatever roles. I asked him, how do you do it? You acted in Ponman, directed Minnal Murali. He told me, I wasted two years of my life trying to do Shaktimaan.”

Anurag Kashyap also revealed that Basil also told him how he had to battle in Bollywood because of the egos and asking him how did he even survive here.

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“God, how do you survive in that industry (Bollywood)? He just exactly said what I feel here. I said I can’t, that’s why I moved away. That man wasted two years here. He was telling stories of people’s egos while laughing. He said, what kind of industry is that?”

On the work front, Basil apart from playing cameos in Mohanlal’s Hridayapoorvam, has starred in Pravinkoodu Shappu, Ponman and Maranamass this year.

Anurag Kashyap’s highly anticipated film Nishaanchi was released in the theatres on September 19. His next film with Bobby Deol named Bandar is yet to be release.