Anurag Kashyap says Imtiaz Ali spent more time with daughter Aaliyah than him: It eats you up inside

Pic/Instagram

Anurag Kashyap and his former wife Aarti Bajaj have a daughter named Aaliyah Kashyap. She is a blogger with a YouTube channel. Aaliyah was in the US for a couple of years. Now, in an interview with Film Companion, Anurag spoke about the biggest regret of his life. The filmmaker regretted not giving his daughter Aaliyah enough time.

Anurag said, "I'm very scared of losing loved ones. I've realised after a long time in the sense that in my process of pursuing this, (doing) one film after another, that so-called passion with which I actually enjoy making movies, I left a lot of things behind. I ignored a lot of things. Because when it really hit me hard. When my health slipped from my hand, it was so fast. Because I was working, I was doing yoga, I was swimming, I felt invincible. When it slipped out of my hands, tt was like no amount of anything can save you. At that time you feel isolated, you feel alone. And then I realised I have isolated myself, in my pursuit for whatever I was doing. Constantly fighting to make my films my own way, everything."

He further added that Aaliyah spent more time with her friend Ida Ali and her parents-filmmaker Imtiaz Ali and his wife Preeti. Anurag shared, "But there comes a point where I realise my daughter has suddenly grown up. I see her old pictures and I'm like, ‘Oh my God, I miss this.' I'm sitting with Aarti and Aaliyah's friend Ida and Ida's mom Preeti, and Imtiaz… And they're all talking, and they have these memories of this holiday and this and that. And I'm sitting there and I'm wondering, ‘Where was I?' And I realise Imtiaz has spent more time with my daughter than I have. And then it eats you up inside. You don't even know whether to apologize, because it's too late to apologise." Anurag then said Aaliyah has forgiven him and she understands the nature of the filmmaking profession.

Aaliyah got engaged to Shane Gregoire in May. Sharing pictures from the proposal, she wrote, "soooooo THIS HAPPENED!!!!! to my best friend, my partner, my soulmate and now my FIANCÉ! you are the love of my life. thank you for showing me what real & unconditional love feels like. saying yes to you was the easiest thing i've ever done & i can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you, my love. I love you forever & always Fiancé 🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹 (still can't believe i get to call you that AAHHHH)."

Aaliyah and Shane threw an engagement party in Mumbai in August. It was attended by her friends like Khushi Kapoor and several others.