‘This Is a Film About a Family’

Anurag Kashyap is heading back to his comfort zone. The director behind “Gangs of Wasseypur” and “Dev.D” has crafted another quintessential North Indian story with Amazon MGM Studios India’s “Nishaanchi,” but this time he’s trading gangsters for family drama.

Set for theatrical release on Sept. 19, “Nishaanchi” stars newcomer Aaishvary Thackeray in a dynamic double role as twin brothers Babloo and Dabloo — “mirror images yet stark opposites in their beliefs” — alongside Vedika Pinto, Monika Panwar, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, and Kumud Mishra.

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“‘Wasseypur’ was more of a gangster film about very stupid, very low IQ gangsters,” Kashyap tells Variety. “And this is a film about a family. About a mother, about her two sons and falling in love with one girl, and about Kanpur and Lucknow.”

The project has been a long time coming for Kashyap, who wrote the script back in 2016 while working on “Mukkabaaz.” Originally conceived as a simple story about two brothers falling for the same girl, the narrative evolved into something more complex.

“I was looking for actual, real life brothers,” Kashyap recalls about the casting process. The solution came through serendipity when Kashyap discovered Thackeray through YouTube videos showcasing the actor’s monologues from various films, including an authentic Bihar-set piece from Manoj Bajpayee’s “Shool.” What followed was a four-year commitment from the debutant, who dedicated himself to becoming a “Kanpurwala.”

“He gave me four years of his life. 2020 is when I met him, and 2024 is when we went into shoot,” Kashyap notes. “Him and Vedika, with one of my co-writers, Ranjan [Chandel], they went to Kanpur. They lived in Kanpur, invisibly, to invite Kanpur in them.”

The technical challenge of executing the double role led to an innovative shooting approach. Cinematographer Sylvester Fonseca suggested shooting the longer-haired, bearded version of one brother first, then returning two months later for the second character after Thackeray had physically transformed.

The film’s soundtrack, featuring contributions from Dhruv Ghanekar and Anurag Saikia, among others, became another collaborative element. “I kept meeting them, and I shared the script with them, and they started coming out with songs on their own,” Kashyap says, adding that Thackeray, himself a musician, contributed two songs to the film.

Monica Panwar’s casting as the family matriarch proved particularly significant. Her character spans from age 20 to 50, a challenge that Kashyap approached by casting younger and aging up rather than the reverse. “It’s easier to make a younger person look older than an older person look 20. It’s more cost effective,” he explains pragmatically.

The Amazon MGM Studios partnership came about through a chance encounter on a Melbourne flight, where Kashyap pitched the script mid-air to a senior executive. “I think the film got greenlit by the time the flight landed,” he recalls.

For Kashyap, the film represents both a homecoming and an evolution — a chance to revisit the regional storytelling that established his reputation while exploring the intimate dynamics of family relationships.

“It’s very North India. North India is in me,” the filmmaker reflects. “When I make a film in North India… I feel like I’m batting at half pitch.”

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