Before Rifle Club, Anurag Kashyap was offered these two acclaimed Malayalam films

Anurag Kashyap said he missed two big chances in Malayalam cinema before he finally made his debut with Rifle Club.

Anurag Kashyap

Anurag Kashyap made a terrific debut in Malayalam with Aashiq Abu directorial Rifle Club, which released in theatres on December 19, 2024. Anurag Kashyap recently spoke about reaching out to Aashiq Abu and working with a stellar cast, all the while praising Malayalam cinema. The acclaimed filmmaker-turned-actor, however, said that he had missed two big chances in Malayalam cinema before he finally made the debut with Rifle Club.

Also read: Rifle Club movie review: Aashiq Abu’s all-star cast fires in this fun, crisp and riveting thriller

Anurag Kashyap missed acclaimed Malayalam films

In a recent interview with The Gulf News, Anurag Kashyap spoke about finally getting to collaborate on a Malayalam film as an actor. However, he said he had earlier missed out on Rajeev Ravi ‘s Thuramukham and Lijo Jose Pellissery’s Jallikattu.

“One was Thuramukham, by Rajeev Ravi. He offered me the role, and waited for me to play the role of Nivin Pauly's father (which was portrayed by Joju George) and then there was Jallikattu where Lijo wanted me to play the hunter. And they believed in me more than I believed in myself that I could pull it off. I got scared. But this time, I got a little more confident. I said ok ‘Let me reach out’,” Anurag Kashyap said during the interview.

Starring Nivin Pauly in the lead, the film also featured Indrajith Sukumaran, Joju George, and Arjun Ashokan. You can watch Thuramukham on SonyLiv and OTTplay Premium .

On the other hand, Lijo Jose Pellissery's Jallikattu, which stars Antony Varghese and Chemban Vinod Jose, was selected as India's official entry to the Oscars.

Anurag Kashyap on getting cast in Rifle Club

During the interview, Anurag Kashyap also said it was he who first reached out to the makers of Rifle Club upon seeing the announcement on Instagram.

“I just saw the announcement - they are going to make it. I reached out on Insta and asked ‘Would you like an actor from the north’ and then they reached out to me. I literally asked for the role without knowing what the film was about. Rifle Club sounded so cool,” he said, adding that he was confident of Aashiq Abu and writer Syam Pushkaran.

Anurag Kashyap played the role of an arms dealer in the action thriller, which had an ensemble cast including Vijayaraghavan, Dileesh Pothan, Vani Viswanath, Surabhi Lakshmi, Darshana Rajendran and rapper Hanumankind.

The thriller film marked the Malayalam acting debut of both Hanumankind and Anurag Kashyap. The director was recently seen in the Tamil film Maharaja, which starred Vijay Sethupathi in the lead role.

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