Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap’s Nishaanchi is gearing up for a theatrical release next month but there is another one of his works, Bandar, starring Bobby Deol and co-written by Paatal Lok creators Sudip Sharma and Abhishek Banerjee, which is creating quite a buzz in the festival circuit. The film is set to have its world premiere at the Toronto International film festival.
Recently, in a conversation with journalist Sudhir Srinivasan, Anurag spoke about how Bobby came to be attached with the film at a time when he was being flooded with offers from big-banners.
Talking about how Bobby, whose career nosedived in the early 2000s and now he has made a comeback, Anurag said it takes a lot for a star like him to do a film like Bandar. “A complete surrender for somebody who’s been a star for the longest period of his time, then he has seen a total lull, and then when he’s getting all kinds of big mainstream movies, he picks Bandar and says, ‘I want to do it.’ Because he’s thinking, ‘I’ve never been asked to just be vulnerable.’ He’s so vulnerable in the film — so emotionally naked,” Anurag said.
The Gangs of Wasseypur director also informed that the ensemble cast in Bandar comprises of celebrated theatre artists from across India. “Every single scene he (Bobby) has performed is with such fantastic actors. Bandar is full of theatre actors, great actors from all languages, five National Award winners. The film is a character study of Bobby’s character, but in every scene, he’s sharing the screen with some incredible actor who’s come for two, three scenes. There’s Raj B Shetty in it, there’s Ridhi Sen from Nagarkirtan (2019) in it, Saba Azad, Sanya Malhotra, Jitendra Joshi, Nagesh Bhonsle, Sukant Goel, and Ankush Gedam. And there are no junior artists in the film. They’re all theatre actors, some hundred theatre actors.”
Anurag also praised Bobby for embracing the rawness the role demanded. “But he’s so vulnerable in the film. And he’s put himself through it on a day-to-day basis, every day. And he finds the whole experience… so he talks about it to other people. And everybody comes to me and says, ‘Bobby said it was so incredible working in that film.’ And because of that, what happens is a lot of other people want to come and work with you. Yes, because Bobby Deol is saying so.”
Anurag’s next Nishaanchi, starring Aaishvary Thackeray and Vedika Pinto, is slated for a September 19 release. The director’s Kennedy is still awaiting a release. Bobby, on the other hand, will be seen next in Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan’s debut directorial series The Ba***ds of Bollywood.
