New Delhi, Sep 11 (IANS): Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap, who is seen playing the character of Pramod Ahlawat in the crime drama ‘Haddi’, has opened up on his collaboration with actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui in the movie.

Directed by Akshat Ajay Sharma, the film stars Nawazuddin, Anurag and Zeeshan Ayyub in the lead. Nawaz plays the character of Haddi/Harika, while Zeeshan is seen as Irfan.

Anurag has directed Nawazuddin in 'Gangs of Wasseypur' and 'Raman Raghav 2.0', amongst others.

Talking to IANS, Anurag shared about working with Nawazuddin as a co-actor.

"Mujhe usko maarne me bahut maza aya, usko bhi mujhe maarne me bahut maza aya (I loved beating him and he also loved beating me). This is what our give and take was," said Anurag.

Calling Nawzuddin a great friend, the 51-year-old director said: "Emotionally also I feel very close to him. There was no awkwardness. Hamne bhaut maze kie, usne bade shauk se mujhe mara, maine bade shauk se usko mara."

Produced by Zee Studios along with Anandita Studios, the film stars Nawazuddin in a double role, one of which is transgender. It also stars Ila Arun, Saurabh Sachdeva, Rajesh Kumar and Ivanka Das in pivotal roles. It is streaming on Zee5.

On the work front, Anurag recently directed 'Kennedy', which is a neo-noir thriller film. It stars Sunny Leone and Rahul Bhat in the lead.

As an actor, he will be next seen in 'Leo', a Tamil action thriller film, directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj. The film stars Vijay and Trisha, alongside Sanjay Dutt, Arjun Sarja, Gautham Vasudev Menon, Mansoor Ali Khan and Mysskin.