Anurag Kashyap and Neeraj Ghaywan Talk About Sacred Games And Their Friendship

Anurag Kashyap and Neeraj Ghaywan, who co-directed the second season of Sacred Games, talk about the series, their friendship and critiquing each other’s work

- Priyanka Bhadani

In 2010, Neeraj Ghaywan took a leap of faith by quitting his well-paying corporate job to join Anurag Kashyap as an assistant director in Gangs Of Wasseypur. They had bonded through their conversations about cinema on a blog, Passion For Cinema. Then, Ghaywan was Kashyap’s youngest assistant director ever. Now, as they sit together to talk about the second season of Sacred Games that they co-directed, Kashyap cannot be prouder of Ghaywan. Between them, there is a lot of camaraderies, leg-pulling, and fondness. “He cares and worries about me,” says Kashyap. “Most of the people I work with do that. I think I put myself out there a lot and they all get worried about me.”

According to Ghaywan, that is a result of the atmosphere that Kashyap has created for many of the younger filmmakers. “We get so protective [of him] because he has nurtured so many people around him,” he says. “It is a kind of generational. He learned a lot from Ram Gopal Varma and he has that allegiance to him. I would also have that to him (Kashyap) because, when I quit my corporate life, he became my second parent. My own parents were not talking to me [at the time]. I was new to Mumbai and had nowhere to go. And he was there.”