Abhay Deol is in the news after his most recent web series, Trial By Fire, received a tonne of good publicity. In order to promote the show, he has been giving interviews. One in-depth interview he just had was with the tabloid Mid-Day. He talked extensively about Trial By Fire in an interview with the tabloid’s entertainment editor Mayank Shekhar, as well as his family, what it’s like to be both inside and outside society, his previous movies, and a lot more. Additionally, he dispelled the taboo around the accusations made by Anurag Kashyap almost two and a half years ago.
In an interview with Huffington Post in June 2020, Anurag Kashyap claimed that working with Abhay was “painfully difficult” and that he does not have great working memories with him. He said, “He wanted to do artistic movies but also wanted the mainstream benefits. The benefits and luxuries of being a ‘Deol’. He would stay in a five-star hotel while the entire crew stayed in Paharganj for a film that was made on a very tight budget. Also, the reason a lot of his directors went away from him.”
On this, Abhay Deol clarified that he never demanded a five-star hotel room. To quote Abhay, “Anurag went in public and told a lot of lies about me. One lie was that I demanded a [five-star] hotel room during the shoot of Dev D. He had come up to me and said, ‘Listen you can’t stay with us, you are a Deol. So, I want to put you up in a hotel room.’ He literally told me that. What he told the press was that I demanded it.”
Abhay then minced no words as he thundered, “I had my heart on my sleeve, and all that is great — but you get taken advantage of, and then you get reactive. So, he (Kashyap) was a good lesson for me. Then I just avoided him, because I don’t need toxic people in my life. Life is too short, and there is so much more to explore. But he (Kashyap) is definitely a liar and a toxic person. And I would warn people about him.”
Abhay Deol then revealed that after Anurag Kashyap “said that crap” about him, he sent him apology messages. Abhay stated, “He does that all the time. He was like, ‘You want to shout at me, scream at me…’ And I was like, ‘I don’t care. It’s been 12 years. You don’t feature in my thoughts even now; get over it.’ He said, ‘Forgive me because I have had a bad day.’ I said you are forgiven. I never had a personal agenda. It was far bigger than just me. That is how I feel about everything. How much of this is he going to do? And I would have never taken his name and said the things, had he not gone public either.”
Abhay Deol was asked with describing a few of the superstars in a rapid-fire round during an exclusive interview with Bollywood Hungama last year. He referred to Anurag Kashyap as a “gaslighter” when asked about him. Abhay continued by saying that he disliked self-promotion since he wanted his films to speak for themselves. But some filmmakers had concerns, leading him to be “gaslit” into believing he didn’t give a damn about his movies.