Did you know Anurag Kashyap was once arrested in Saudi Arabia?

In a recent interview, the acclaimed filmmaker revealed that he was detained for questioning after landing in Saudi Arabia “fully drunk”

Anurag Kashyap

“Tum jo puchhoge, main sab bolunga. Koi filters nahi hai meri life mein” Anurag Kashyap said in a freewheeling interview recently, where he went on to speak about a slew of things - from his obsession for Hindi sahitya and Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock’s books to why he was removed from the Salman Khan-starrer Tere Naam. One of contemporary India’s most acclaimed filmmakers, Anurag is known for his directorial ventures like Black Friday (2004), Dev.D (2009), Gangs of Wasseypur (2012) and Manmarziyaan (2018). But did you know he was once arrested in Saudi Arabia?

Speaking with Samdish Bhatia in a show, titled Unfiltered By Samdish ft. Anurag Kashyap the filmmaker - whose latest film Almost Pyaar with DJ Mohabbat is a musical romantic drama, starring Alaya F and Karan debutant Mehta - revealed that back in 2010, he was held by authorities in Saudi Arabia for landing in the country “totally drunk”.

“It was way back in 2010, when [Vikramaditya Motwane-directed] Udaan got selected for screening at the Cannes Film Festival. And I was stuck in Denmark, as there were no flights due to volcanic eruptions. I took a train to Rome, and was very exhausted after two days of travel. I bought the tickets for the next flight to Saudi Arabia, which was scheduled for five hours later. It was the only flight to Saudi that day, so I couldn’t have missed it either. To kill time, I went to the lounge and started drinking there, because I just wanted to pass out. Later, I took the flight and landed in Saudi fully drunk; got arrested immediately,” Anurag elaborated. Anurag had written the screenplay of the film, alongside Vikramaditya, Satyanshu Singh and Devanshu Kumar.

He was then taken in for questioning. “Luckily, I still had my phone with me, so I texted Ronnie Screwvala. He asked which airline is the connecting flight. It was Jet Airways, fortunately. To add to the trouble, I was also carrying pork sausages in my handbag. So, I held tightly onto it. There was a bit of conversation and a little tamasha between the local authorities, pilots and other officials. Eventually, Jet Airways refused to fly without me and the flight got delayed for about three hours. Finally, I boarded and we flew out,” the filmmaker added.

Recently, Anurag also did a cameo in Aasmaan Bhardwaj’s action thriller film Kuttey that featured an ensemble cast.

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