Anurag Kashyap fights with RGV over Manoj Bajpayee’s death scene in Satya!
Anurag Kashyap, who worked as a writer on the 1998 film Satya, had creative differences with director Ram Gopal Varma during the production of the film. He later acknowledged initial disagreements but credited Varma’s approach for the film’s iconic success.

Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap, who co-wrote the 1998 film Satya with Saurabh Shukla and Ram Gopal Varma, revealed that he often argued with Varma during the making of the film. In a recent interview, Anurag revealed how he clashed with Varma, Shukla and Makrand Deshpande while shooting the death scene of Manoj Bajpayee’s character Bhiku Mhatre.
Recalling those moments, Anurag said radio addiction“I was completely raw. I was learning and absorbing everything. I used to argue a lot. Eventually, he (Ram Gopal Varma) would be right. To shut me up, he would say, ‘Good idea. Hey, put it in your film, this is my film.
Anurag narrated another instance where Varma reminded him that Satya was Varma’s vision and he insisted on directing it his way.
“Even during Manoj’s death sequence, Saurabh, I, Makarand and Ramu ji were fighting in a corner. I didn’t agree with the way this scene was being filmed. When I saw it on the screen I realized how wrong I was. When we were arguing, Ramu once said, ‘Anurag, whenever you make a film, you put in all the logic and details of how someone is killed. As of now, you are not making this film. Can we just shoot?” Anurag recalled.
Anurag also confirmed that Satya, one of the most famous films of Hindi cinema, was shot without a traditional script.
He told, “As far as I remember, we had written something. But after two days of shooting, Ramu said this was not the film he wanted to make and he threw it away. I remember that in the initial It was everything we wrote in days.” Completely cancelled. The film was written and made on the fly. We would literally put paper on the sofa and write dialogue for the day.”
Produced and directed by Ram Gopal Varma, Satya features a stellar cast including Manoj Bajpayee, Paresh Rawal, Makarand Deshpande and Saurabh Shukla. This cult classic is re-released in theaters today.