EXCLUSIVE: Govvind Namdev on playing villain in Bandit Queen: Phoolan Devi’s narration on how her flesh was torn made me understand the psychology of Thakur’s character

Renowned actor Govind Namdev has been a dedicated contributor to Bollywood for almost 32 years, delivering exceptional performances throughout his career. In an interview with Bollywood Bubble’s new segment ‘Khalnayak’, which focuses on actors known for their villainous roles, Namdev shared insights into his long and illustrious journey in the film industry.

During the interview, he shared about his role in Bandit Queen. Namdev opened up on how he prepared for a cruel role like this for the first time.

Govvind Namdev on playing villain in Bandit Queen

Namdev said, “How will I do this? I had never played such a character before. I was very anxious about how I would manage it. The character ‘Thakur Sri Ram Singh’ was a real person. There wasn’t much material available about this character. There wasn’t much written about him or anyone to tell me more about him, except for a few news pieces about his encounter, as told by Phoolan Devi. The director’s team informed me about these details, but it wasn’t enough.”

“Shekhar Kapur had a method where he would take the actors to the location three or four days before shooting so they could feel the place. How to walk on the hills, how to descend, and how the movements would be. He started the shooting and called the main actors,” he continued.

On Phoolan Devi’s narration about her personal life

Namdev said, “Every two days, the shooting progress would be reported to Phoolan Devi in jail. She was in Gwalior Jail, while we were shooting in Bhagalpur, about 100 km away. This film was being made with her permission, based on her life and a novel written about her. An Assistant Director would go and brief her on what scenes were shot and what scenes were to be filmed next. This was the system in place.”

“A friend of mine, Dolly Ahluwalia, who is a very good actress and was the costume designer for the movie, found out someone was going to meet Phoolan Devi. She requested Shekhar Kapur to let her go too, and he agreed, saying, ‘Yes, yes, go. As a female, you might find out something extra.’ So, it was decided, and she went the next day to brief Phoolan Devi. She then requested to know what had happened to her in detail. Phoolan Devi narrated her entire story for about 40 minutes. As she described her real trauma, Dolly was shocked and started crying.

Govvind also recalled how Phoolan Devi scolded Dolly for crying infront of her. Phoolan Devi later unbuttoned her blouse to show the bite marks left by the Thakurs. Her flesh was torn and scarred from being bitten. Seeing this, Dolly was completely shocked. She came back in that state and told Govvind Namdev about the same.

Understanding the psychology of the character

“The way Phoolan Devi described how her flesh was torn made me understand the psychology of that Thakur character. This man needed to appear extremely ruthless and cruel. His cruelty had to be so apparent that it justified him tearing Phoolan Devi’s flesh. That episode gave me a complete understanding of the character. As they say, if the villain gets cursed by the audience, then the actor has succeeded. After watching the film, people would come out cursing the character.”

Govind Namdev has appeared in numerous films, including OMG: Oh My God!, OMG 2, Sarfarosh, Bandit Queen, and Prem Granth. He also revealed that he would soon be seen in the upcoming Ajay Devgn starrer, Raid 2.

Also Read: EXCLUSIVE: Govvind Namdev discloses Subhash Ghai scrapped his role from Saudagar; says, “Started drinking a lot, I’d cry in my wife’s arms”