'I’ve no filter, but…': Anurag Kashyap on importance of 'saying less' on social media

Critically acclaimed filmmaker Anurag Kashyap is someone who doesn’t mince his words. He is lauded for making realistic cinema. But he is equally famous for speaking his mind on Twitter. He often paid the price for his honest opinion on things that affected him.

Now, the DevD director has realised that there is no point in trying to have conversations on social media platforms.

“It took me a year-and-a-half of sickness to realise a lot of things. I used to be very reactive earlier. I would just say things out of anger or as a reaction to something I felt perturbed with. It took me some time to realise that I’m shouting in a room full of people where everyone is also shouting and nobody is listening to me or each other for that matter. That’s what social media has become today,” he told News18 in an exclusive interview.

Kashyap had been facing heart issues and had to undergo an angioplasty in 2021. The procedure widens blocked arteries near the heart. Kashyap is known for his straight-to-the-point remarks. But the director now says that he took a step back and “asked myself why I’m reacting to things and what’s bothering me so much”.

“People call me controversial, rabble-rouser, dark — all terms by people who expect one kind of behaviour,” Kashyap had told Hindustan Times in an interview over a decade ago.

Kashyap has taken on Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan and his brothers Arbaaz and Sohail Khan, Karan Johar, Aditya Chopra, and Ram Gopal Varma among others. As expected, his remarks weren’t received well.

Kashyap now feels grateful to fellow director Rajkumar Hirani for teaching him the lesson of keeping quiet. Kashyap says that Hirani made him understand that his films need to reach more people. “I’ve no filter. I know that if somebody asks me a question, I’ll answer it. But I’ve also realised that I don’t need to say and talk about everything because everything need not be said,” he added.