Anurag Kashyap, known for his bold filmmaking and acting, recently revealed that he walked away from a project after a streaming platform tried to turn his show into Money Heist.
Kashyap shared with The Hindu that he had written a film for Mohanlal and wanted Rajeev Ravi to direct it. However, the project didn’t work out, so he reworked the story for Kennedy, starring Sunny Leone and Rahul Bhat.
The filmmaker further shared that Kennedy’s main character, undercover cop Uday Shetty, had been with him for a long time. The story was narrated to him by Sudhir Mishra. He even planned a sequel web series where the character survives the events of Kennedy.He also shared that he pitched a show to a streaming platform that was interested but gave feedback driven by algorithms and insecurity. He felt it was ruining the essence of the show, especially when they tried turning it into Money Heist, so he walked away. He also noted that content is now shaped by data tracking user behaviour.

Anurag also addressed the delay in Kennedy’s release, despite its screenings at Cannes and MAMI. He revealed that financial issues at Zee Studios caused the delay but added that he has accepted such challenges as part of the industry.
Kashyap shared further stated that Kennedy was finalized and approved by censors. However, Zee faced financial losses from recent films, and the producers involved in the project had also left the company, contributing to the delay.
The director-actor has faced similar setbacks before with films like Black Friday and Gulaal, while his debut film Paanch still remains unreleased.