Anurag Kashyap says only patriotic, devotional films being greenlit: 'This is a tragedy'

Anurag Kashyap, who has co-produced children's film Little Thomas releasing this Friday, claims making any film is difficult today, unless it's patriotic or devotional.

Anurag Kashyap has bankrolled Kaushal Oza's children's film Little Thomas, starring Gulshan Devaiah and Rasika Dugal, which is slated to release in cinemas this Friday. However, the filmmaker believes that making children's films in Bollywood is particularly challenging at a time when even projects outside the devotional and patriotic genres struggle to get made.

Only patriotic, devotional films being greenlit

In a recent interview with HT, Anurag Kashyap lamented that only patriotic and devotional films are being greenlit in Bollywood. He said, "I don't think anybody knows what to make today. It's difficult to make films. Whether it's a children's film or an adult film, making your own film is difficult today. I was talking to a producer the other day, and they said, 'We don't know what to do.' You can make either a patriotic or a devotional film. Otherwise, nothing else is getting greenlit. That is a fact and a tragedy."

However, amid the surge of patriotic and devotional films, Kashyap is hopeful Little Thomas would find its audience. "Hopefully, this film will sneak in, because this is not like any other film out there. Having hung up his boots as a full-time producer, Kashyap claims he's more of an "enabler" now, putting his might behind smaller films he has faith in.

"It is just about faith and upping somebody's morale. I see myself as someone who keeps morale high and helps them complete and release a film," said Kashyap.

Co-produced by him and Ranjan Singh, Little Thomas revolves around the titular character in Goa, who wants to have a younger brother, much to the worries of his reluctant parents, played by Gulshan Devaiah and Rasika Dugal.

He also argued that the scope of children's film has expanded in recent years, both in India and worldwide. "For instance, what will you call this recent Telugu film called Don't Trouble The Trouble, which stars Fahadh Faasil and is backed by SS Rajamouli. It has Fahadh, so would you call it a children's film?," he asked. Shashank Yeleti's fantasy movie released earlier this month in cinemas.

Kashyap also quoted the example of Philip Barantini's Emmy Award-winning psychological crime show Adolescence, which dropped on Netflix last year. "When we go to festivals, we see so many coming-of-age films. The biggest, most talked-about series in the last two years was Adolescence. But they are for adults," reasoned Kashyap.

2026 was all about patriotic and devotional films

Barring Abhishek Pathak's recent crime thriller Drishyam 3, the highest grossing Hindi films of this year were either patriotic (Dhurandhar 2: The Revenge, Border 2) or devotional (Hanuman Ansh). Aditya Dhar's spy thriller Dhurandhar 2, starring Ranveer Singh as an Indian spy infiltrating the terror network in Pakistan, amassed Rs 1813.39 crore at the worldwide box office.

Anurag Singh's period war drama Border 2, starring Sunny Deol and Varun Dhawan as Indian soldiers fighting in the 1971 war against Pakistan, collected over Rs 450 crore at the global box office. Vishal Chaturvedi's Hanuman Ansh, featuring Shobhinaw Satyaa as revered spiritual guru Neem Karoli Baba, was made on a modest budget of almost Rs 2 crore, but went on to earn Rs 450 crore worldwide.