Why Ugly is the finest Anurag Kashyap film ever

Adding the latest Ghost Stories to the list, Anurag Kashyap has directed almost 18 films and produced several others. With many national and international awards, Gangs of Wasseypur (2012) remains one of his best works. Anurag himself has accepted that it’s difficult for him to recreate Wasseypur’s success. He exuded the same sentiment when Gangs of Wasseypur completed seven years last year. He wrote, “Seven years back is exactly when my life got ruined. Since then all everyone wants me to do is the same thing over and over again. Whereas I have only been unsuccessfully trying to get away from that expectation.” Two years after the release of Gangs of Wasseypur, Anurag came to the big screen with Ugly. The filmmaker, who wrote and directed Ugly, took a lot from his personal life – a broken marriage, his equation with his daughter and a lot of alcohol consumption – in Ugly. The film was stalled for two years merely because Anurag refused to carry static anti-smoking warnings...