Director Madhur Bhandarkar SPEAKS UP on the Boycott Bollywood trend

Madhur Bhandarkar is known for films like Page 3, Chandni Bar, Babli Bouncer, and India Lockdown among many others. Recently in a podcast with Maniesh Paul, Madhur Bhandarkar shared how Sushant Singh Rajput’s death was a major reason behind the boycott culture in Bollywood. The MS Dhoni actor died in June 2020 at his Mumbai residence.

In a podcast with the actor, Maniesh Paul, the Fashion director spoke about how he felt the audience was angry after Sushant Singh Rajput’s death. This led to the start of the Boycott Bollywood trend in the country. Sushant Singh Rajput was not from a film background. He might have been ignored by the industry which caused his untimely death. He also called the actor’s demise untimely and unfortunate.

Elaborating further, Madhur said that this isn’t the first time, it has happened. There have been multiple occasions where the audiences have called for a boycott. But Boycott culture is a phase, he stated.  People called for a boycott of Gangubai Kathiawadi but still, people went to watch the film. People will watch if the film is content-driven and strong film.

It has happened with movies like Kantara, The Kashmir Files and Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 where people have gone and watched these films. They won’t stop watching films, Bhandarkar added. 

Madhur also opened up about his film Indu Sarkar which received political backlash at the time of its release in 2017. Even then no one from the film industry stood with him. It’s surprising that people talk about freedom of expression but at that time no one from the industry supported him or even tweeted about the film. He was fighting a lone battle, he added.

The last directorial of Madhur Bhandarkar was a Marathi film was Circuitt which released in April 2023. It has Vaibhav Tatwawadi and Hruta Durgule starring in lead roles.

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