Anurag Kashyap’s highly anticipated film Kennedy, an essential police noir film, was recently screened at The Grand Lumiere Theatre at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. Kennedy is based on the insomniac cop who dwells in different circumstances while looking for redemption. The hype around the film has been soaring high with the film being screened on a stage as prestigious and renowned as Cannes. Following the screening, Anurag Kashyap’s movie also received a 7 minute long standing ovation at Cannes. In a new Interview, Anurag Kashyap explained why he opted for Sunny Leone as the female lead.
Speaking with Film Companion, Anurag Kashyap shared that his criteria for the female lead was someone over the age of 40, who has been sexualised by men around her. He stated, “I swear I have never seen her films, ever. I have seen her interviews. There is a certain sadness in her eyes. There has been a life in the past. I needed a woman over 40, who is sexualised by men around her, men who are in their 50s and 60s. I don’t need to see the act of sex and all that. I need to see this woman who is also dealing with it, also handling it, also using it all in order to survive and navigate. In Sunny, I found a woman who came with all those things inbuilt.”
The film-maker also emphasized,”Second, I am very aware of the amount of money that she is paid in the market. I said this is not the kind of film. That question never never came up. She was just so happy and overwhelmed and said, ‘the fact you are thinking of me for this, I will do it.’ She really slogged, she really worked hard and that shows.”
For the Cannes screening,Anurag Kashyap was also joined by Vikramaditya Motwane, Rahul Bhatt, Sunny Leone, Shariq Patel, Ranjan Singh, Kabir Ahuja, Bhumika Tewari, Neeraj Joshi and Ashima Awasthi at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. “I am thrilled to make my Cannes debut with Kennedy being screened here. It’s only a dream few actors get to live, and I take a lot of pride in being a part of such a prestigious event. I cannot wait to see how the global audience reacts,” Sunny Leone said.
Meanwhile, Kennedy’s lead actor Rahul Bhatt also expressed gratitude and added, “Kennedy is our labor of love. The film is exciting, it keeps you gripped. And as I, along with my team, enter the coveted red carpet of Cannes and show our film to the world, I am full of gratitude for everyone, especially Anurag, who made this possible.”
“We are thrilled to see ‘Kennedy’ garner a high-wattage response, here at Cannes. I thank the selection committee at Cannes for extending this opportunity to us. Having an exuberant applause at Grande Lumiere Theatre by the audience is indeed a once-in-a-lifetime surreal experience,’’ Shariq Patel, CBO of Zee Studios said.
With Kennedy, Kashyap returned to the Cannes Film Festival where he previously presented films such as ‘Raman Raghav 2.0’, ‘Ugly’, ‘Bombay Talkies’ and the two-part gangster drama ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’.
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