Anurag Kashyap’s much-talked-about 2023 film Kennedy had its Calcutta premiere on December 10 at the 29th Kolkata International Film Festival. Anurag, along with producer Ranjan Singh, and actors Rahul Bhat and Megha Burman, a Calcutta girl, presented the film to a full house at Nandan. Ahead of the screening, Kashyap spoke to t2 about his film and his love for neo-noir.

How excited are you to show Kennedy to Calcutta today?

I am not excited. More than excited, I am anxious. I want to see how people in Calcutta feel about the film.

The mind is where your heart is as a filmmaker. Your protagonists are killers, insomniacs, commits crime… what inspires you to explore such minds?

Anurag with director Sudhir Mishra and producer Ranjan Singh

I always feel the need to understand everyone. I always need to understand why someone does a certain thing which is so heinous or which shocks you. What would make a person like that? Those things interest me.

Neo-noir is a genre close to your heart as a filmmaker. Which neo-noir filmmakers inspired you and what about the genre interests you?

Sriram Raghavan’s Ek Hasina Thi, David Fincher, Bong Joon-ho…

I saw neo-noir and thought this is a film that I can make.

When we are talking about neo-noir we have to talk about the cinematography. What was your brief for this film?

I just wrote the opening scene in detail. Barring that, I did not do anything else and that is enough for me and Sylvester (Fonseca). Our production designer picked up from the first scene and then they built on it with Sylvester being in charge of it. Cinematography is very important to me. I trust the person. I have done a lot of things which I wanted to do. But in this film Sylvester and Kazvin (Dangor) and all have just added to my script. During this film, I used to sit down and just watch the performance.

Kennedy is laced with a subtle humour throughout. How important is humour in a thriller like this?

Very important. For me, humour is very important because humour makes a lot of things bearable.

Though there are less dialogues in this film, the characters speak in a brazen manner… how do you look at language in your films?

I look at language as how would the character speak and how would they be and many a times I just let the actors be. I don’t try to censor them because I always have the option of editing. If it seems out of place then I will take it out.

Were you able to make Kennedy the way you wanted to make it?

Absolutely. After a long time I am making a film exactly the way I want it..

The character stayed in your head for 20 years. Did it evolve over time?

Just the character stayed in my head for 20 years. I kept looking how to use this character and then I found how to use this character to tell a story. It took me so long to find out how to use this character.

You are working with Rahul Bhat for the third time…

It is a thing of give and take. It is a matter of trust. He gives a lot to me as an actor. And when he is working on my film as an actor, he doesn’t do anything else. That kind of a commitment... when someone gives that much. What comes out is always a delight.

What was your reason for casting Sunny Leone to play Charlie?

Sunny was my first choice for the film. I like to subvert things, be it in the case of people or films. People objectify her so much. So for me to have a character within that world which is objectified by people... I didn’t want her to do anything. If she was willing to be a part of it and willing to go that far, which she did, I wanted her to be in the film. Her intention was to do such a film. I don’t judge actors from other people’s movies. I saw her as an individual in an interview and then I wanted to cast her. And that’s why I work with actors who give me that time and have that hunger to do something.

A lot of lockdown references are there in your film where you explore the socio-political aspect through humour…

I was dealing with a lot of implosion. I was also dealing with a lot of health issues and a lot of things at that time. I was also dealing with a lot of loneliness because I am an active person. I live alone. I don’t have a problem with that but lockdown made me feel lonely even though I live alone. It was very strange, there was no interaction and nothing. You will see a lot of that has impacted the film.

Uday Shetty, your protagonist, is based on a person from the 80s…how did you incorporate him in contemporary times?

I just took the individual. When he is in contemporary times, his world is shaped by the contemporary world — the technology and everything else which would not have been a part of what he was doing then.

Kennedy received a standing ovation at MAMI and the seven-minute standing ovation at Cannes… did you anticipate this response?

I did not but MAMI’s response was very overwhelming for me because they reacted to everything, which for me was a massive thing.

Your film Gangs of Wasseypur had a huge impact on the festival circuit and now Kennedy. Why did you decide to make the festival rounds first with this film?

I send all my films to festivals. Some get selected, some don’t. This one got selected and I was very happy. There are a lot of new things that I have tried in this film cinematically and this is one of my films that has travelled the most, so for me that is a big thing.

Do you agree Kennedy is sort of a revival film for you as a filmmaker?

I am always making films but people only think my revival happens when I am making a crime thriller. (Laughs) I am happy if they think I am revived with this film!

Would you call Kennedy your best neo-noir till date?

I don’t know. I don’t look at films like that. It is up to the audience. It is very subjective. Objectively only someone else can say whether my film was best or not because I don’t see films as best or not. I say Kennedy is a film that is fully what I wanted to make it, and I am very happy about that.