Need of religion much less in today's world: Anurag Kashyap

Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap says the world today needs more education and less religion as faith has become merely a tool in the hands of the powerful to peddle their agenda.

Kashyap, who has produced Shazia Iqbal's acclaimed short Bebaak, starring Sarah Hashmi and Nawazuddin Siddiqui, said he decided to support the young director's voice as her script became a window into the world he had not seen.

Based on true events, the 20-minute movie is a peek into the life of an aspiring architecture student Fatin Khalidi (Hashmi), who is reprimanded by a religious leader (Siddiqui) for not wearing a hijab (headscarf) during a scholarship interview.

According to Kashyap, the genesis of every religion comes from the "need of trying to bring people together to protect them in old times" when scientific knowledge was not available.

"People, over a period of time, have discovered so much more with science. I feel in today's world, the need for religion is much less. The need for education is much more but religion has now become a tool in the hands of the powerful and politicians to propagate their own agendas," the 51-year-old director told PTI in an interview.

Also starring Sheeba Chadha and Vipin Sharma, the award-winning short Bebaak is streaming on JioCinema as part of a film festival.

Kashyap, who calls education a privilege afforded by a few, said films like Iqbal's introduce him to different worlds.

"The impact of Shazia's writing was so strong on me because there is a perspective that I learned from her script. I haven't seen that world. In my world, I know what we have to do to get a scholarship.

"There are many worlds that I haven't seen. You get to know a person more through their work, writing, or filmmaking. Shazia can't help but be honest, it is her problem she cannot lie. So I thought this film needed to be made," he added.