Had to manipulate Tigmanshu for Wasseypur: Anurag Kashyap

New Delhi: Anurag Kashyap, who chose director Tigmanshu Dhulia to play the main villain in his `Gangs of Wasseypur`, says he always knew that there was a great actor hiding behind the filmmaker.

Kashyap did a cameo in Dhulia`s `Shagird` and when he started working on `Wasseypur`, a revenge drama set in the world of coal mafia, he wanted his director friend to return the favour. But Dhulia is not doing a cameo. Kashyap says he has the longest role in the film, which has some 300 characters and is divided into two parts. "Tishu has always been a brilliant actor. The world did not know it but I knew it. All I had to do was to manipulate him for this film," Kashyap told reporters. Not many know that Tigmanshu initially wanted to be an actor and trained for the same in National School of Drama (NSD) but the `Paan Singh Tomar` director decided that acting was not his cup of tea after a terrible performance in a play. Anurag says Dhulia has done great in `Wasseypur` and it is only the beginning of his acting career. "He does not want to do acting, he wants to make films. But I don`t think he will be able to stay away from acting for too long because he is so good at it," Kashyap said. PTI