Anurag Kashyap draws parallels between SS Rajamouli and Bong Joon-ho's global impact

Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap shared his perspective on the current landscape of Indian cinema, drawing an interesting comparison between the growing international acclaim for SS Rajamouli and the global cult following of Korean director Bong Joon-ho. He stated, "With Rajamouli, there is a whole audience of him that’s getting built since ‘Eega’ internationally. That’s the same phenomenon with, say, Bong Joon-ho. Bong Joon-ho broke it with ‘Parasite’, but his best film was ‘Memories of Murder’".

Kashyap's Prediction of Rajamouli's Global Success
Kashyap recalled predicting RRR's international success prior to its release, saying, "I said it much before ‘RRR’ released, that ‘RRR’ will be that film that will break out from India because it was building up." He cited his experiences at international film festivals, where filmmakers from various countries expressed keen interest in Rajamouli, adding, "I’ve had filmmakers from Belgium, from Switzerland, from across wanting to know more about Rajamouli." He further mentioned filmmakers visiting the sets of ‘RRR’", I know two filmmakers who made ‘Blood for Dracula’ and one more, they came down to Mumbai, and I took permission from Rajamouli and they visited the sets of ‘RRR’ and spent one week there." Kashyap summarized Rajamouli's international ascent, stating, "He first became big in the filmmaking world with ‘Baahubali’, then larger in cinephilia, and with RRR, he reached out to the audience beyond cinephilia and the filmmaking world."

Malayalam Cinema as the 'Korean Cinema of the Late 90s'
Anurag Kashyap also lauded the ongoing evolution of Malayalam cinema, drawing a parallel between its current state and the rise of Korean cinema in the late 1990s and early 2000s. He observed, "There’s a new Malayalam cinema that I find parallels with Korean cinema, like how Korean cinema was evolving in the late ’90s and early 2000s. That’s what Malayalam cinema right now." He elaborated on their approach, "They are taking up ideas that are not rooted but making them rooted, like, they are making films that are not their culture, but somehow fostering culture into it or finding culture into it and making it rooted." Citing an example, he said, "When I did a Rifle Club, from the early silent movies to Hunger Games, there was a glimpse of all these influential films. So it’s like parts of these films became Rifle Club." Speaking about cinematic knowledge in Kerala, he noted, "Most of the Amal Neerad films are influenced by The Godfather, various stakes of it. So their influences vary from the far-off cinema they’ve seen from across the world. Cinephilia in Kerala is very high. They are genuinely brokers called Godard and Lenin, and one of them is a filmmaker. So cinephilia is very high and they are trying to find their stories in the subculture."

Concerns Regarding Tamil Cinema and Observations on Telugu and Kannada Cinema
In contrast, he expressed concern about Tamil cinema, saying, "Whereas Tamil, they mostly see blockbuster cult films. They are just borrowing from there, they are just dotting the big director blockbuster cult films. They are not watching films made in languages they are not familiar with or not been big at a festival, or have not been Oscar-nominated." On Telugu cinema, Kashyap acknowledged its distinct direction, stating, "They are creating their mythology. They are expanding, or borrowing, rehashing, or repeating their mythological world." As for Kannada cinema, Anurag admitted to limited recent exposure, "The last very, very good Kannada film I saw was ‘Rama Rama Re…’ and then Natesh Hegde’s ‘Pedro’. I have not seen a lot of Kannada films recently."