Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap on Saturday said he was approached for a role in the upcoming pan-India film Dacoit at the wedding of actors Sobhita Dhulipala and Naga Chaitanya.
Narrating the story of how he was cast in the upcoming action-thriller, Anurag said that during the ceremony he was pulled aside for an impromptu script narration by director Shaneil Deo and actor Adivi Sesh, who also co-wrote Dacoit.
"I went to attend the wedding of Sobhita (Dhulipala) to do kanyadaan and after it was done, they took me in a corner in that wedding and narrated the script to me. Like, while the 'phera' ceremony was going on, I was listening to the narration. I was not asked whether I'll do it or not, rather I was told we are starting shoot next month," the filmmaker-actor said at the trailer launch press conference of Dacoit.
Sobhita, who made her acting debut with Anurag’s 2016 movie Raman Raghav 2.0 and later worked with him on the Netflix horror anthology Ghost Stories (2020), tied the knot with Chaitanya in Hyderabad in 2024.
Dacoit is billed as a gripping story of two former lovers, who must unite to commit a series of robberies to change their lives. It stars Mrunal Thakur opposite Sesh.
Anurag said he couldn't say no to the makers of Dacoit because the role offered him a break from typecast characters.
"For the first time, someone saw me beyond the crazy psychopath killer and that was a big thing for me. Usually, people often typecast you but in this film I got to play a new kind of a character," the filmmaker, who has acted in films like Akira, Bad Cop, Maharaja, Viduthalai Part 2 and Rifle Club, said.
Speaking about his stint in front of the camera, Anurag said though filmmaking remains his first love, acting provides a fresh perspective.
"Right now, my films aren't working. I prefer directing movies. I love making movies, my first love is filmmaking. Acting is also part of it, I've done theatre and that experience is coming to use now," he said.
Anurag, 53, drew parallels to legends like Raj Kapoor, Manoj Kumar, Dev Anand, Clint Eastwood, and Mel Gibson, and said that actors often make the best directors because of their "intuitiveness" regarding performance.
"Actors have intuitiveness while doing acting and hence they turn out to be better directors. Also, directors have a better understanding of many things, and there are quite a few directors who have been good actors as well, like Satish Kaushik, Rajkumar Santoshi, and others," he said.
"When I acted first, I couldn't bear myself as an actor maybe because I didn't understand the medium of cinema then. Today, I know it," he said, adding, his first love is writing and direction.
"It's good to act sometimes as you get a new perspective, like when an actor becomes a director, he understands the importance of performance," Anurag added.
The film, produced by Supriya Yarlagadda and presented by Annapurna Studios, and co-produced by Suniel Narang, is set to release on April 10.
