Anurag Kashyap (born 10 September 1972) is an Indian film director, writer, producer and actor. He co-wrote Ram Gopal Varma’s gangster classic Satya (1998) and went on to direct dark, realistic films such as Black Friday, Dev.D, Gangs of Wasseypur and Ugly, which opened up Hindi cinema to new subjects, settings and actors. He co-directed the Netflix series Sacred Games and has become a sought-after actor in South Indian films.
Quick Facts
| Full name | Anurag Singh Kashyap |
| Born | 10 September 1972, Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, India |
| Age | 54 |
| Occupation | Director, writer, producer, actor |
| Education | Scindia School, Gwalior; Hansraj College, Delhi (B.Sc. Zoology) |
| Years active | 1997–present |
| Spouse | Aarti Bajaj (div.); Kalki Koechlin (div.) |
| Children | 1 (Aaliyah) |
| Sibling | Abhinav Kashyap (director) |
Early Life
Kashyap grew up in small towns of Uttar Pradesh, where his father was an engineer with the state electricity board. He studied zoology at Hansraj College. Seeing Vittorio De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves at a film festival in Delhi in 1993 made him decide on cinema, and he arrived in Mumbai that year with very little money, sleeping where he could.
Career
He wrote for television and at 25 co-wrote Satya, featuring Manoj Bajpayee, followed by Kaun, Shool and Yuva.
His first film, Paanch, was held up by the censors and never properly released. Black Friday (2004), about the 1993 Bombay bombings, was delayed by court order until 2007. He broke through with Dev.D (2009), a modern retelling of Devdas. The two-part Gangs of Wasseypur (2012), a saga of coal-mafia families in Dhanbad, premiered at Cannes and made stars of Nawazuddin Siddiqui and others. Later films include Ugly, Bombay Velvet, Raman Raghav 2.0, Mukkabaaz, Manmarziyaan and Kennedy (2023), also shown at Cannes.
Through Anurag Kashyap Films and Phantom Films he backed Udaan, The Lunchbox, Masaan and many first-time directors.
He played villains in Akira (2016) and the Tamil films Imaikkaa Nodigal and Maharaja (2024), with Vijay Sethupathi.
Personal Life
Kashyap has a daughter, Aaliyah, from his marriage to the film editor Aarti Bajaj. He was later married to the actress Kalki Koechlin. An outspoken critic of the government and of the film industry’s ways, he said in 2025 that he had moved out of Mumbai to live in the south.
Frequently Asked Questions
When and where was Anurag Kashyap born?
Anurag Kashyap was born on 10 September 1972 in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, India and is 54 years old.
What is Anurag Kashyap’s occupation?
Occupation: Director, writer, producer, actor.
Featured image: Anurag Kashyap speaks at the International Film Festival of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram, March 2022. Photo by Sanu N, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
