FILE: Filmmaker Shekhar Kapur; poster of ‘Bandit Queen’
| Photo Credit: PTI Photo/Subhav Shukla and Special Arrangement
Filmmaker Shekhar Kapur on Tuesday alleged that the streaming version of his 1994 film Bandit Queen is “unrecognisable” from the movie he originally directed and that it was edited without his permission.
The director, also known for films such as Masoom, Mr India, the Cate Blanchett-starrer period drama franchise Elizabeth, and What’s Love Got to Do with It?, asked whether OTT platforms would do the same with a film by Hollywood great Christopher Nolan.
Taking to the microblogging site X, the filmmaker wrote,
Critically acclaimed Bandit Queen revolved around the life of Phoolan Devi, the dreaded Chambal dacoit-turned-Member of Parliament. Actor Seema Biswas played the titular role in the film, which generated a massive worldwide buzz following its premiere in Directors’ Fortnight section of the 1994 Cannes Film Festival.
The conversation started from Kapur’s X post in which he praised the mini-series Adolescence for its “next level” storytelling.
Fellow director Sudhir Mishra commented on Kapur’s post, saying no one would let Indian filmmakers pursue a show like Adolescence.
Adolescence is a British crime drama which centres around a 13-year-old schoolboy Jamie Miller, who is arrested for the murder of a classmate. Each episode is shot in one take.
“One should do it as an independent film. Something of our own which is wanders, then stops, digs and goes where the smell takes us (sic)” added Mishra in his tweet.
Kapur, in his response tagging Mishra, said he wonders if OTT platforms would let him make Bandit Queen the way he made years ago.
In another post, the filmmaker wrote,
Many other filmmakers, like Hansal Mehta, and Kunal Kohli, who directed Kapur’s daughter Kaveri in Bobby Aur Rishi Ki Love Story, also weighed in on the issue.
Published – March 19, 2025 11:05 am IST