I was surprised to find out that Anurag Kashyap and Abhay Deol, both people we love and admire for the work that they do, never had a great working relationship. The director and actor collaborated for the first and what it seems to be the last time on Dev-D the grimmer version of Devdas. But Anurag in a recent interview with Hindustan Times revealed that it was painfully difficult to work with Abhay Deol on the sets of Dev D and how he expected a Deol kind of treatment on the sets.
The director revealed:
It was painfully difficult to work with him. I don’t really have great working memories with him. And haven’t talked to him much since I finished shooting.
Anurag also said that when they were making Dev-D Abhay was confused.
He wanted to do artistic movies but also wanted the mainstream benefits. The benefits and luxuries of being a ‘Deol’. He would stay in a five-star hotel while the entire crew stayed in Paharganj for a film that was made on a very tight budget. Also the reason a lot of his directors went away from him.
He also revealed that Abhay never showed up to promote the film and dissed the cast and crew a lot.
He wasn’t there to promote Dev D. He dissed the film and crew a lot. He was gone a long time. It was because of something he was grappling with emotionally and personally and never talked about. He also felt betrayed by me about which he has never spoken to me ever.
Despite all of this, Anurag also added that Abhay is a brilliant actor who deserves much more.
We hope this duo sorts out their differences, so we can see more collaborations of theirs that are bound to be masterpieces.