Anurag Kashyap is an Indian film director, screenwriter, producer and actor. He is often regarded as the face of an emerging new wave cinema for producing numerous independent films with newcomers. For his contributions to film, the Government of France awarded him the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters) in 2013. After writing a television serial, Kashyap got his major break as a co-writer in Ram Gopal Varma's crime drama Satya (1998), and made his directorial debut with Paanch, which never had a theatrical release due to censorship issues.