Dear Anurag Kashyap,

I’ll admit that I am a fan boy of your stories, of your film’s music and of you. I’ve been one ever since I saw Black Friday, a powerhouse of a film in terms of performances. 

If I could make one complaint – it would be that your films are extremely dark. After watching them, even a happy man would look at life with morose eyes. But then, such films are necessary. 

That said, I think you’ve lost a little bit of that raw spark in your films. Bombay Velvet was a colossal waste of resources and time, while Raman Raghav 2.0 didn’t float my boat. Even the music of these two films were not as good as what we were served in Dev D and Gulaal. 

“I think the film (Bombay Velvet) moved too fast and it did not give the audience time for things to register. It’s a better film on a repeat viewing, because then you’re not expecting too much. The music also didn’t work for people, instead it worked for a lot of connoisseurs and the older people,” you said in an interview with HT. I think you are being incorrect with your analysis. The film didn’t work because the script was wafer thin, the scenes didn’t have any weight and the acting was abysmal. I am not going to watch it again, because watching it once was too much of a pain. 

Where are the haunting songs like Sheher or extremely catchy numbers like Emotional Atyachaar? You didn’t care about economics or profitability then, were not worried about producing other people’s films and even wrote a blog for PassionForCinema.com. Now, it seems that you are much more diplomatic while giving interviews, think a lot more about money and have lost a little bit of anger in your expression. 

Also, just for a change, you should do a film like Dev D, which is dark but without a lot of violence. Reunite with Abhay Deol. Even he has not found his A-Game for a long time. And this time, don’t adapt anything from a novel or remake an old film. 

Here’s hoping that the best Anurag Kashyap film is yet to come.

Happy Birthday!