Anurag Kashyap: ‘I’m glad Gadar 2 and OMG 2 weren't propaganda films even when they had the chance to be'

Anurag Kashyap seems to be impressed by unlikely choices, Sunny Deol's action film Gadar 2 and Akshay Kumar's courtroom drama OMG 2. In an interview with Bollywood Bubble, he said that both could've been positioned as “propaganda films,” but weren't. (Also Read: Karan Johar talks about misconception that his films are about ‘rich people’: If my name was Karan Kashyap…)

What Anurag said

“Sabse badi baat agar main kahu aaj ki date mein toh iss samay sabse badi filmein jo cinema hall mein chal rahi hain, Gadar 2 aur Oh My God, kitni aasani se filmmaker, jo bolte hain iss samay ye mood hai desh ka, film ko propaganda aur counter-propaganda bana sakte the. Lekin wo mainstream ke andar responsible filmmaking hai. Kahin koi halla nahi hua, kahin koi aawaz nahi uthi, unnecessary controversy nahi hui. Filmein thi achhi jin logo ke liye thi. Filmmaker apne personal fayde ke liye opportunist jaise bahar nahi aaya," (The biggest thing today I'd say is that the biggest films in cinema halls today, Gadar 2 and OMG 2, their filmmakers could've gauged the nation's mood and turned them into propaganda and counter-propaganda films. But they're responsible filmmaking within the ambit of mainstream. There was no unnecessary noise, no voice raised, no unnecessary controversy. They were good films for the audiences they were made for. The filmmaker didn't unleash the opportunist within) Anurag said in the interview.

Anurag also weighed in on National Film Awards

In the same interview, he also commented on the debate around Allu Arjun winning the Best Actor National Film Award for Pushpa: The Rise - Part 1 over Anurag's longtime collaborator Vicky Kaushal for Sardar Udham. “Awards are more about the jury than they're about the actor. By the same logic, Vicky won it for a commercial film like Uri, than for his far more serious performances. It doesn't take away from Vicky being a good actor. Allu Arjun's performance wasn't bad either. It was one of the best performances of the year. You can't diss a mainstream performance for a realistic performance. Sometimes I feel a mainstream performance is very, very tough to do.”