Anurag Kashyap is a renowned Indian filmmaker with four Filmfare awards. He recently shared about why he decided to prioritize his physical and mental health over wasting his time on “mentoring people who aren’t worth it”. In March, Kashyap posted on social media that he had decided to charge people a consultancy fee and shared a note on how much it would cost to meet him to discuss work.
In an interview with Humans of Cinema, Kashyap explained his situation when he was asked about the reason behind his viral post.
The filmmaker got tired of people showing up at his door without any appointment and asking for career-related suggestions and help, clueless about his suffering. After these mishaps, he had to stand up for himself. He also explained his experience during depression and how he drowned himself in alcohol to numb his feelings.
According to Mr. Kashyap, “What people are not aware of and they don’t ask, is what zone you are in. I have gone through two and a half years of extreme sickness, and dependency on medicines, I have gone through my whole phase of depression. In a phase like that, you have to prioritize yourself first. So, if I am not physically, mentally, emotionally healed. If you see my interviews of last year, you will see how unwell I was. Even then people come and ask you to read their script. I was like, I am on so many steroids that I am unable to sleep and on top of that I sometimes drink whiskey too to numb it. I am in that stage and frame of mind and in the middle of that people come to me.”
He stated “My priority is I, me myself. I need to fully fix myself, I am in a much better, healthier place. Just let me be for two years, get my energy level and then I will support you again.”
Last year Kashyap said in an interview with The Washington Post about the importance of the movie named Maximum City in his career. He was heartbroken after that. He also admitted falling into a prolonged state of depression and seeking solace in alcohol after the movie got shelved and suffered two heart attacks.
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