Mirzapur: The Movie, which released on September 4, has emerged as one of the biggest hits of the year. While it featured regular series cast members like Pankaj Tripathi, Ali Fazal and Divyenndu, the film spinoff also had the entry of Jitendra Kumar as Bablu Pandit, who replaced Vikrant Massey. During a recent interview, film’s director Gurmmeet Singh addressed the subject, calling it a ‘blessing in disguise’.
Speaking with Screen, the filmmaker said, “With Jitendra coming in, it brought a new energy into the show. It also gave the film its own identity. It gave it its own life, which is very different from the show, which is what we always wanted anyways. So it became a blessing in disguise. We were able to reimagine Bablu and give him more agency.”
Talking about the differences between Bablu’s character arc in the film and series, Gurmmeet added, “The Bablu in the show was almost aiding his brother and was a victim, never having agency or an agenda of his own. But this Bablu is playing the game. He's the one driving the narrative.”
Further reflecting on his learnings from the said development, he said, “No story, no character, no journey is bound down by anybody, right? The show will always move forward, and that's the beauty we can take forward from this. I think that's a great learning we've taken away: to always use your setbacks to your advantage, because that's what creativity is meant to do. Look ahead, and with the film doing as well as it has, I think it only opens up so many doors for us."
Besides Jitendra, Mirzapur: The movie also marked the entry of Ravi Kishen in the universe, who played Babban. The other lead cast members included Shweta Tripathi, Rasika Dugal, Abhishek Banerjee, Mohit Malik, and Shriya Pilgaonkar. In our review for the film, we noted, “It works better as an extended special episode than a big screen mass mayhem experience. Still, there is some assured storytelling at work here. Thankfully, the makers don’t resort to futile excesses for some quick bucks. The Mirzapur universe doesn’t go gun-crazy.”
According to Sacnilk, Mirzapur: The Movie has collected more than Rs 330 crores worldwide so far.
