Geraftaar (1985) is a Hindi language action film, that famously starred Amitabh Bachchan and Kamal Haasan in the lead. Superstar Rajinikanth had made a guest appearance as 'Inspector Hussain' in this movie, and seemingly, left a lasting impression on Bollywood filmmaker Anurag Kashyap, who was 13 years old when Geraftaar released.
In a recent interview with a South Indian YouTube channel, Anurag Kashyap revealed that Geraftaar is his favourite Rajinikanth film. "The way he (Rajinikanth) used to non-stop smoke cigarettes (in Geraftaar), even while dying he was smoking a cigarette, I was like wow. And I just wanted to replicate it in Leo (2023)."
#AnuragKashyap shares that his most favourite #Rajinikanth film is #Geraftaar
— Galatta Plus (@galattaplusoffl) December 20, 2025
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Incidentally, Anurag Kashyap too makes a guest appearance in Leo, albeit miss-and-blink. The filmmaker cum actor revealed that he wanted to die with a cigarette in Leo just like Rajinikanth in Geraftaar. Anurag Kashyap appears as Daniel in Leo, who is shot dead by lead actor Vijay in his titular avatar.
At the time of its release, writer-director Lokesh Kanagaraj has received brickbats for making Anurag Kashyap's role insignificant. However Anurag Kashyap came to his rescue, clarifying, that he likes to do death scenes in movies of filmmakers he likes, and that his Leo death scene was shot all in 3 hours, because that is how much the role required.
"I like to do a death scene in a #Lokesh movie.." - @anuragkashyap72#ThalapathyVijay #LokeshKanagaraj #LeoReview #LCU #LokeshCinematicUniverse #LeoDas #Badass #Trisha #Anirudh #LeoMovie #LeoFilm #LeoTickets #Thalapathy #Vijay #LeoBlockbuster #LeoIndustryHit #Galatta pic.twitter.com/KKcE53z4R1
— Galatta Media (@galattadotcom) October 20, 2023