Anurag Kashyap praised ‘Adolescence,’ a British miniseries created by Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham. The series follows the story of a 13-year-old boy accused of murder, with each scene filmed in a single take. It has received widespread acclaim since its release on 13 March 2025.
Expressing his admiration, the ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’ director wrote on Instagram, “Just binge-watched Adolescence. I am numb and envious and jealous that someone can go and make that. The performances from the child actor Owen Cooper and Stephen Graham, who is not just playing the father but is also the co-creator of the show. The amount of hard work that has gone into the show. I can’t even imagine the rehearsals and prep they did so they could shoot every episode in a single shot. What geniuses the cinematographer Matthew Lewis and the filmmaker Philip Barantinini are. It’s better than any film or anything I’ve seen. It takes its time; it is courageous in not missing a single nuance. Jack Thorne, the co-creator, congratulations to all of you people and your team. Definitely not possible to pull it off without a great team and determination to pull it off.”
However, along with his praise, Kashyap strongly criticized the approach of Netflix towards Indian content. In the comments section of his post, he directly addressed top executives, accusing them of double standards. Kashyap wrote, “Now coming to my envy and jealousy. Ted Sarandos recently put up a post where he says, ‘Every once in a while, one comes along that pushes into brand new territories, defies the limits of creativity, and features career-defining performances.’ And I hope he means it. Because his Netflix.in is a totally opposite s**tshow. If they were pitched this, most probably they would have rejected it or turned it into a 90-minute film (that too seems like an impossibility because it doesn’t have an ending that is black and white).”
Kashyap further criticized the OTT platform’s approach, drawing from his experiences post-‘Sacred Games‘: “Having gone through twice with them post-‘Sacred Games’ and dealing with total lack of empathy, courage, and dumbness mixed with immense insecurity of the series head and the team that keeps getting fired. It frustrates me. How do we ever create something so powerful and honest with a bunch of the most dishonest and morally corrupt @netflix.in backed so strongly by the boss in LA?”
Highlighting a perceived disconnect between the global and Indian operations, Kashyap commented on the platform’s priorities, saying, “This hypocrisy of Ted and Bella vis-à-vis the Indian market of 1.4 billion people, where their only interest is an increase in subscriptions and nothing else. There was a time when Eric Barmack would reach out on Facebook to create something with Netflix to now, where they send you a short show like ‘Saare jahan se achcha,’ which wasn’t even written properly and was half-baked. Which, by the way, has already changed directors and been shot twice (inevitably). It makes me frustrated, jealous of shows like ‘Adolescence,’ and envious and hopeless.”
Despite his criticisms, Kashyap expressed hope for the future, acknowledging the success of certain Indian Netflix productions: “I hope they learn from the reception of it and realize that all the best things Indian Netflix does is mostly either acquired (‘Delhi Crime,’ ‘Black Warrant’) or the ones they least believed in (‘Kohrra,’ ‘Trial by Fire’). Fingers crossed for a better future.”
