I could relate to the subject of electricity theft: Anurag Kashyap

Anurag Kashyap

Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap, who was here today to promote 'Katiyabaaz' - a film on electricity theft in small cities, said he could relate with the problem.

Anurag Kashyap

Anurag, whose Phantom films is one of the producers of the documentary, said power-crisis was a part of growing up years in UP. "I was born in Uttar Pradesh and my father was an employer in UP State electricity board. We used to discuss this problem at home as we were often without electricity.

Due to the electricity theft, my father's department had to produce more electricity," Anurag told reporters here. Anurag, 41, also blamed local leaders for compounding the problem by promising to give free electricity and water in their election manifestos.

"The problem of electricity theft arises with the promises made by them during election. To lure voters, they make many fake promises. Moreover, we Indians have this mentality that the thing which is 'sarkari' is free of cost because we voted for it," Anurag said. Helmed by two new filmmakers Deepti Kakkar and Fahad Mustafa, 'Katiyabaaz' narrates the story behind the power-crisis in the city of Kanpur.

To connect with the Indian audience, the National-award winning documentary has also incorporated music from the fusion band Indian Ocean, who had earlier given music in Anurag's 'Black Friday'. It is releasing on August 22. Anurag, however, is worried about the availability of theatres as the documentary is releasing between two big projects-- 'Singham Returns' and 'Mardaani'.

"Till now, we have decided to release it in 45 screens across India. But I don't know how many free screens and good timings we will get as there are two big projects coming in," he said. The 'Dev D' helmer said he is in awe of documentaries and has been nurturing an idea since three years. "It's sad that I discovered documentaries much later in life. Now, I am obsessed with them.

I have an idea of a documentary in my mind for last three years but I am not able to give it proper shape," he said without divulging much details about it. The filmmaker is currently busy with the post-production work of his ambitious project 'Bombay Velvet'. "My shooting is finished and editing is also done. We are busy with the post production thing. Soon we will start the promotion," he said.