Anurag Kashyap's unreleased debut film to hit theatres after 22 years

While Anurag Kashyap made his Bollywood directorial debut with 2004’s ‘Black Friday,’ the first movie he shot was Paanch.’

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Loosely based on the 1976/77 Joshi-Abhyankar serial murders in Pune, the film was shot in 2003 and was the filmmaker’s debut directional.

However, it never saw the light of the day amid a series of issues including censor board approval and the sensitive subject of the film.

Now, ‘Paanch’ producer Tutu Sharma has dropped a major update about the release date of the film directed by Anurag Kashyap.

“Paanch is definitely coming next year. I plan to release it in cinemas within six months. The film was banned and the negatives have slightly deteriorated. The process of restoring them has already started. As soon as it’s ready, we’ll release Paanch,” Sharma told an Indian media outlet.

According to the producer, the makers of ‘Paanch’ resolved the issues with the Central Board of Film Certification in India, however, they faced other challenges.

“Hence, the film was lying on the cans. Also, the trend of re-runs is here now. So, one can imagine the potential of Paanch. That’s a very encouraging sign. Also, the times are such that such films are being watched, and they have an audience,” he added.

Directed by Anurag Kashyap, the film was loosely based on the Joshi-Abhyankar serial murders in Pune and starred Bollywood actor Kay Kay Menon alongside Aditya Srivastava, Vijay Maurya, and Tejaswini Kolahpure.

The film’s release was postponed in 2003 indefinitely after the CBFC objected to it due to its sensitive subject, abusive language, and violence.

The Bollywood filmmaker then continued his career as a writer with ‘Paisa Vasool’ and ‘Yuva,’ and made his directional debut with the crime thriller ‘Black Friday,’ starring Kay Kay Menon.

It is worth mentioning here that Anurag Kashyap’s recent directorial ‘Kennedy’ has also been awaiting release for a couple of years now.