With ‘Ugly’, Anurag Kashyap has bettered his own record at churning out movies that are far superior in every department than the money-spinning blockbusters we are force-fed. If you have not yet seen this dark, gritty tale of human failings, you should do so immediately. It might make you a little unsettled, but that is what Anurag Kashyap does to you. And those who have seen the film, it is time to know a few more interesting details about ‘Ugly’ – a film that should have ideally hit the screens a year ago.


1. The concept of Kali meeting her biological father is based on Anurag Kashyaps’s personal experience of being an estranged father.

2. Lead actor Rahul Bhat and Anurag Kashyap used to live as strugglers in the locality where the movie was shot. The place is PMGP in Andheri East.

3. Rahul Bhat, winner of the Mr. India title in 2000, was out of acting for 8 years.

4. Anurag Kashyap actually started writing the script of ‘Ugly’ in 2006.

5. He considers it his most accomplished film till date; even better than the iconic ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’.

6. Surprisingly, not one of the characters in the film knew the entire script. They were only told of their scenes on regular basis.


7. ‘Ugly’ is Tejasvini Kolhapure’s second movie with Kashyap; her first being the unreleased ‘Paanch’.

8. The film was screened at Cannes in May 2013 but got delayed in India because Anurag got into a scuffle with the Censor Board over smoking tickers.

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9. Siddhant Kapoor is son of Shakti Kapoor. He plays the brother of Tejasvini in the film but is nephew in real life.

10. Girish Kulkarni, who plays Inspector Jadhav, is a National Award winning Marathi actor.

11. The circumstances that led to the birth of Kali, the little girl, was separately made as ‘Kali Katha’ and launched as a prologue to the film.

12. Ronit Roy did not read his scenes because he was not given the script. He relied entirely on Anurag’s guidance.

13. ‘Ugly’ was made at a budget of just Rs. 4.5 crore, which is at least five times less than the pay of an average Bollywood actor.

14. The police station scene was meant for just one minute duration, but the actors in the scene stretched it to 14.5 minutes while improvising.

15. The song to which Siddhant Kapoor performs the Chaddi Dance is “Money”, by Christopher Stanley.

16. Anurag Kashyap personally requested the parents of child actor Anshikaa Shrivastava not to allow her to see the film because of its dark theme.

17. The film is dedicated to the memory of actor Abir Goswami, who plays an ACP and died of cardiac arrest in May 2013.