HUMANITIES INSTITUTE Stuart Blackburn, Ph.D. ANURAG KASHYAP (1972 - ) LIFE Anurag Kashyap’s father is a now-retired engineer, who sent his young son to a prestigious boarding school in Dehradun (in the Himalayan foothills). His later schooling was in Gwalior, after which he went to New Delhi to study zoology at Delhi University. Having received his degree in 1993, he began acting and directing in a street theatre group. During that time, he became addicted to film, especially international films, especially those by de Sica and especially Bicycle Thieves. Inspired to become a director, he relocated to Bombay , where he roughed it until he was able to direct a play. Slowly, he made contacts in the film industry and got jobs as a script writer for bot h screen and television. Throughout his productive directorial career in Bollywood, starting with his first release (Black Friday) in 2007, Kashyap has made stylish thrillers that dramatise the world of crime without glorifying it. His most internationally acclaimed film so far is The Gangs of Wasseypur, a tour de force that documents the operations of a coal mafia over six decades from the 1940s. Today, he is active in making feature-length and shorter films, for television as well as cinemas. Kashyap’s brother is a film-director, and his sister is an associate producer on most of his films. He married a film editor, with whom he had a daughter, but they divorced in 2009. A few years later, he married an actress, but they also divorced, two years later. ACHIEVEMENTS In 2013 Kashyap was awarded the Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters (Ordre des Arts des Lettres) by the French Government during a festival to celebrate a century of Indian cinema. In addition to winning awards for Best Screenplay, his feature film debut Black Friday won the Grand Jury Prize at a film festival in Los Angeles; and it was also nominated for Best Film at the Locarno Film Festival in 2008. The Gangs of Wasseypur won many awards, including Best Dialogue and Best Film, at the Filmfare Festival in 2013. LIST OF FEATURE FILMS (as director) Five (Paanch) 2003 (unreleased) Black Friday 2007 No Smoking 2007 Return of Hanuman 2007 Dev D 2009 Red Powder (Gulaal) 2009 That Girl in Yellow Boots 2011 Gangs of Wasseypur, 1 & 2 2012 Ugly 2014 Bombay Velvet 2015 Raman Raghav 2.0 2016 The Brawler (Mukkabaaz) 2018 .