Rana Naidu, Mirzapur, Inside Edge director Karan Anshuman feels cinema has become predictable: ‘There's a legacy which streaming was unshackled by'
Karan Anshuman began his career with his least successful project yet. Riteish Deshmukh and Pulkit Samrat-starrer 2015 black comedy Bangistan didn't quite take off at the box office. But producers Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani then gave Anshuman the task of helming Prime Video India's maiden original series Inside Edge in 2017, and there was no looking back from that.
Over the next eight years, Anshuman found his groove with three seasons of Inside Edge and Mirzapur each. He branched out of Prime Video India and Excel Entertainment in 2023 with the hugely popular Netflix India action thriller show Rana Naidu. He's not only helmed season 2, but is also directing Glory, another series for Netflix India. Ahead of season 2, Anshuman talks to SCREEN in an exclusive interview about his brand of entertainment — hyperreal, rooted, and packed with action.
With Inside Edge, Mirzapur, and Rana Naidu, you have a 100% success record on streaming. What do you think cinema can learn from streaming at this point?
The one time I tried making a film, I didn't do well, did I? So, I wouldn't want to go around giving advice to people making films for theatre. I do feel films have become predictable in their form. A lot of formulas are applied because there's a legacy, which streaming was unshackled by when it started. Someone has to just disrupt that idea of 'I know what's gonna happen next'. Because people love to predict the next line and say the dialogue before the actor says it even though they're watching the film for the first time. That disruption is really required.
All your shows are rooted in a particular milieu, that being a Hyderabadi family based out of Mumbai in the case of Rana Naidu. How do you crack the local nuances?
That's actually the most fun part of the job, to create that world, that universe on paper and then just go for it. I do a lot of research in terms of the world we're trying to create and I sink deep into it. That provides the basis of everything. Then you start layering it with interesting characters, the big issues, and see how you take those relationships further. What we're doing with Glory is next is also very interesting and unique in that sense.
Another commonality between all your shows is they border on excess. There are larger-than-life characters, gruesome action, and expletives. How do you decide you can push it this far and not beyond?
You actually say those lines out loud and you feel it out a little bit. You hear real people say stuff like that all the time. I don't think any of it is outside of reality. There's a certain rhythm to it that makes it real. You just got to have the ear. That's the skill, I guess. You just need to know if something is sounding authentic or not. Then you make it hyperreal in terms of pushing for the excess, in terms of shooting people down or stabbing them in the eye. You need to strike that balance between authenticity and a certain excess.
Do you have it in you to make a romantic comedy ever?
Every time I set out to make a rom-com, this is what happens. Actually, Rana Naidu started off as a rom-com. You know, a cute little family sitcom, and then the characters suddenly start doing things (laughs).
Rana Naidu season 2 will drop on Netflix India this Friday on June 13.
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