MUMBAI: In a private interaction with director Anurag Kashyap, Quentin Tarantino, one of America’s most influential directors, has candidly admitted that he was inspired by an Indian film while making his famous Kill Bill (2003-2004).

Everyone remembers the animation-action sequence used to depict some gruesome scenes in the movie. This style, Japanese Manga animation, was first used it in 2001 by Kamal Haasan. He used it in the Tamil movie ‘Aalavandhan’ (Abhay in Hindi) to portray violence.

Anurag Kashyap first heard about this influence from Sight and Sound critic Naman Ramchandran. He then happened to meet Quentin in Venice and asked him whether the Manga sequence in Kill Bill was inspired from an Indian film. Kashyap has revealed that Quentin had excitedly remarked, “Yes, I saw this Indian serial-killer film which showed violence as animated.”

Kamal Haasan, who played a psychopath in Abhay, is very happy to hear that such a brilliant director had been inspired by him. But he explains, “When I did the animation action sequence 12 years ago it was seen as self-indulgent and odd by a lot of people. Now that it has been endorsed by a filmmaker of such brilliance, critics will be kinder to some of the things I attempt in my films.”

Known for his different style of film making, Quentin has admitted that he is influenced by music and a recurring hallmark in all his movies is that there is a different sense of humour in each one, which gets the audience to laugh at things that are not funny. He is the maker of famous action flicks like Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs and Inglorious Bastards.