Nawazuddin Siddiqui recently revealed that the first cut of Anurag Kashyap’s 2012 crime-saga, Gangs of Wasseypur, left him unimpressed. He said that it was only when he saw the film at the Cannes Film Festival that he understood what Anurag had created.
In an interaction on the ANI podcast, Nawazuddin said that they didn’t know they were making something great while shooting for the film. “In fact, I didn’t know even after we’d finished it. When I watched the first cut, I thought, ‘Yeh kya bana diya hai yaar (What is it that he has made)’. But when I watched the final film at Cannes, after it had been refined, that’s when I realised why Anurag is Anurag.”
Speaking more about the filmmaker, he added, “He’s a genius man. He changed the face of Indian cinema, and the entire world took notice. He might not be appreciated in his own country, but I’m sorry, the world knows what he has done.”
Gangs of Wasseypur was appreciated for the raw performances by the actors and a gritty portrayal of events taking place in Dhanbad, Jharkhand. It premiered in the Directors’ Fortnight category at Cannes Film Festival 2012 and gave a wider recognition to Nawazuddin, Manoj Bajpayee, Pankaj Tripathi, Richa Chadha, Huma Qureshi, Rajkummar Rao and many others who starred in the film.
It was recently re-released in cinemas across the country, 12 years since its original release.