In a quite extraordinary thread on Twitter, filmmaker Anurag Kashyap has written of the impact new film Bulbbul had on him and that he had actually read the script several years ago. Mr Kashyap's lengthy thread is both a review of Bulbbul and an insight into the crafts of filmmaking and storytelling.
"It's very rarely that a first film has this kind of an impact on me. I just wasn't expecting it," Anurag Kashyap began his thread - midway through, he names some other first films that were similarly impactful, among them Court, Ship Of Theseus, Udaan, Masaan and Liar's Dice. Note - separate thread on first films coming soon since the comments section has been flooded with responses asking Anurag Kashyap why he missed out such and such film (Sairat cropped up).
Back to Bulbbul. When Anurag Kashyap read the script - he still has it in his mailbox - he didn't visualise the film that it eventually became. "It had the vision, it had everything that's in the film but it still wasn't this what I saw," he wrote. Very rarely does the first cut of a film have the sort of impact that the final film delivers, Mr Kashyap wrote, adding that this was the case with his own seminal works such as Gangs Of Wasseypur.
"First cuts are often close to the scripts. Which means the script had everything but wasn't the final film," Anurag Kashyap explained. Then begins the process of "chipping away at it to find the film" and this, Mr Kashyap said, is exactly what Bulbbul's first-time director Anvita Dutt did. Once he watched Bulbbul, Anurag Kashyap rewatched it - with a glass of whiskey, of course - to find out why when he read the script he had not visualised what it had been turned into. "I saw (Anvita) take her time on it, I could feel her agony, her ecstasy," Mr Kashyap wrote, "This is where I'd say editing Bulbbul was rewriting Bulbbul."
Anurag Kashyap also reserved praise for the music, the cinematography and the performances in Bulbbul, especially that of actress Tripti Dimri, cast as the eponymous lead - a child bride married to a much older man who grows up into the seductive and confident mistress of the manor. Anurag Kashyap describes the film as a "cautionary tale" and "Bengali Gothic."
Read his full thread here - be warned, it's very long:
I remember the films that have given me a career , be it a Black Friday or GOW, didn't make the kind of impact on the first cut that it did finally. First cuts are often close to the scripts . Which means the script had everything but wasn't the final film.
— Anurag Kashyap (@anuragkashyap72) June 25, 2020
When I saw Bulbul, the title sequence sucked me in, the reds of it, I love red,Red is cinematic, visceral. What I didn't expect were the red nights, the red moon , from a horror mystery it had transformed into a moody fable, pure poetry and it had me enthralled and engrossed .
— Anurag Kashyap (@anuragkashyap72) June 25, 2020
I saw her knowing that her Bulbul is in here but she hadn't found it yet, I could see her not giving up or thinking I have done my film and this is it..NO..she kept at it, chipping away, she and the editor playing with it, this is where I'd say editing Bulbul was rewriting Bulbul
— Anurag Kashyap (@anuragkashyap72) June 25, 2020
The two leads. Last time I saw them was in Laila Majnu where the film was more about Majnu @avinashtiw85 (a criminally ignored performance of that year) playing Satya, but this time the film wasn't about him, secure to let his Laila become Bulbul and fly..
— Anurag Kashyap (@anuragkashyap72) June 25, 2020
Experience Bulbul.. it's not a scary horror, it's a cautionary tale , it's a fable of times, it's Bengali Gothic(if there ever is such a thing). It joins the list of best first films that I have seen in this millennium like Court, Fandry, Subramaniapuram, Udaan, Masaan, Makdee
— Anurag Kashyap (@anuragkashyap72) June 25, 2020
Secure enough to stay in the background &in the shadows but strong enough to start casting his own shadow ,holding the flag high for his more famous younger sister @AnushkaSharma , who empowers all their filmmakers & people they produce under @OfficialCSFilms .
— Anurag Kashyap (@anuragkashyap72) June 25, 2020
I couldn't find more people on twitter involved so hastagging them. Great learning for me as a filmmaker here. Thank you Anvita Dutt
— Anurag Kashyap (@anuragkashyap72) June 25, 2020
Bulbbul, now streaming on Netflix, is produced by Anushka Sharma's Clean Slate Filmz. The period film has been embraced warmly by critics and the viewing public alike. Apart from Tripti Dimri, the cast includes Rahul Bose, Avinash Tiway, Paoli Dam and Parambrata Chatterjee.
