Filmmaker-actor Anurag Kashyap says that being repeatedly cast in similar roles prompted him to step away from acting for a brief period, as he looked to avoid being boxed into a fixed screen image.
The 53-year-old, who recently made his Telugu debut with Dacoit which stars actors Adivi Sesh and Mrunal Thakur, says the decision came after he noticed a pattern in the kind of roles being offered to him.
“People tend to see you in a certain way, and you keep getting similar roles,” Kashyap says, adding that over time, the offers felt like “different versions of the same character”.
“It’s not about whether those roles are good or bad, but that they don’t challenge you anymore,” he explains.
Kashyap says this creative stagnation led him to consciously turn down projects and step back: “I didn’t want to keep doing something just because it was coming to me. There has to be a reason beyond just being visible.”
His return to acting was driven by the need for a fresh challenge, choosing projects that break away from the mould he had been associated with. “In my journey, I’ve seen all kinds of waves… Nothing is permanent — not trends, not perceptions. Every Friday is new. And maybe that’s why you have to keep reinventing yourself as well, because if you don’t, you just get stuck in one version of yourself,” he signs off.