The Hindu Huddle 2025: ‘Pan-India’ filmmaking a ‘massive scam’, streaming content ‘worse than television’: Anurag Kashyap

Anurag Kashyap shared his unfiltered opinion on a range of subjects, from the gold rush of ‘pan-India’ filmmaking to streaming platforms ‘dumbing down’ their shows and films to expand subscriber base.

Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap pulled no punches as he described the trend of ‘pan-India’ filmmaking as a “massive scam” during a session at The Huddle by The Hindu.

Mr. Kashyap, known for iconic cult movies like Dev D and Gangs of Wasseypur, said that a film can only be anointed ‘pan-India’ when it has become successful across the nation, and not before. Films like Baahubali, KGF and Pushpa pulled large crowds and shattered box-office benchmarks, setting in motion across industries the desire to emulate their style and staging. This reverse-engineering is disingenuous, and, at times, a way to inflate budgets and fees, said Mr. Kashyap. 

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“’Pan-India’, in my opinion, is a massive scam,” he said, adding, “A film goes into production for 3-4 years. A lot of people are surviving on that film and their lifestyle also depends on it. All the money doesn’t go into the film. And the money that does, it is spent on these massive, unreal sets that do not make sense. And only 1% of it works.”

Often, the films that actually become successful have ‘zero-expectations’ riding on them, said Mr. Kashyap, citing the example of the first Stree (2018), which started the cycle of recent horror-comedies in Hindi cinema. 

“Uri: The Surgical Strike became a success and everyone started doing nationalistic films. Post Baahubali, everybody want to do these big movies with Prabhas or somebody else. KGF became a success and everyone wants to emulate that. That’s where the decline of storytelling begins,” Mr. Kashyap said.

Decoding the phenomenon of SS Rajamouli, whose last film, RRR, was a raging global hit, Mr. Kashyap said that the fan base of the visionary Telugu filmmaker has been steadily expanding since the days of Eega (2012). He compared Rajamouli to South Korean director Bong Joon Ho, whose Parasite (2019) won the Academy Award for Best Picture but who has been establishing his credentials since the cult classic Memories of Murder (2003).