His brand of movies is synonymous with the realistic genre in Bollywood. He is one director who efficiently concocts a cocktail of art and critical acclaim with commercial success. Three-time National Award winning director Madhur Bhandarkar loves to cut his way through the dark, secret alleys of hidden truths and wield his megaphone on a number of burning issues only to wipe off the thick layer of dust covering its underbelly.
The hard-hitting filmmaker is known to make issue-based projects, without bordering on the preachy lane. Be it a bar girl, a politician, a journalist, a businesswoman, a model or a superstar’s role. From Tabu to Kareena Kapoor, all actresses have visibly chipped in a powerhouse performance for his camera-frame. And many have even went a step ahead to bag a National Award in their kitty.
Of late, the leading Bollywood senior journalist and reputed writer Bharati S. Pradhan observed, that this serious helmer has a “I know him quality” about him as he is able to connect to the masses in general so easily. On the other hand, the filmmaker himself believes that it is God who has a hand behind his prosperity and had not his debut vehicle Trishakti been a huge debacle by His grace, he would still be continuing to follow the popcorn entertainment trend.
“Of course, I love and adore the three most precious women of my life — my mother, daughter and my wife. But I earnestly feel that God is instrumental to my success. I also visited the Kalighat in Kolkata during my recent trip to the city to seek the Mother Goddess’s blessing which is endowed with a magical energy and positive powers,” he reflects on a pensive note. The fact that his line of thought-provoking ventures is an eye-opening revelation to the society is no secret to any movie buff in India.
Started with a fairly forgettable flick called Trishakti after assisting the industry’s big shot Ram Gopal Varma, Madhur discovered women as his perennial subject and constantly oriented his films towards their struggles, pain, anguish, achievements, insecurities, loneliness, victories, independence and so on. He is one man who can happily script his journey into a woman’s world. With an exception like Jail in between, the director humours that “now when I look back and weigh the movie in retrospect which I had immensely enjoyed making, I feel I should have also reeled a film on the trials and tribulations of a female prisoner or a women’s gaol.”
Kudos to this self-made perfectionist who has thrived on his own, without the backing of a premier production banner or an industry godfather. From an anonymous video-delivery boy in a suburban neighbourhood who would supply cassettes in those VCR-VCP days, Madhur has come a long way ever since to emerge as one of the finest filmmakers in the contemporary cine-town. From a faceless entity to someone having carved a niche for himself, the director of Chandni Bar, Page 3, Satta, Corporate, Traffic Signal, Fashion and Heroine is a shining role-model in whose assiduous shoes, many budding aspirants would love to slip into.
But even the most consistent winning streak gets replaced with unexpected failures often, when things refuse to go in one’s favour. Last year’s Kareena Kapoor starrer Heroine flunked to make the kind of noise which was loudly hyped as part of its pre-release buzz. Madhur however clarifies that “money was thankfully recovered from the box-office collections as it was a big-budget movie and it’s very important to retrieve a film’s cost and bring home the capital that is invested in its making. Otherwise, hits and misses will invariably keep happening in showbiz which is such a volatile sphere.” For there’s no set formula or a doctrine to profit on every single movie in the market, he notes assertively.
“There‘s no patterned recipe of success and what works best at the BO is beyond anybody‘s knowledge. The riddle remains unsolved till date. And I do believe in the harsh jigsaw puzzle of life that every day cannot be your day to strike the right chord under the sky. On a bad cricket-pitch, even the run-machine like Tendulkar gets out before scoring another century for his team-India,” he philosophises.
Coming out of his comfort-zone of “dark dungeons and grim realities” of life, Madhur had once shifted gears to take a stroll along the comic path by trying his hand at a slice-of-life through the rom-com Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji.
“People quite intriguingly ask me why did I at all make a candyfloss caper when am supposed to show them the behind-the-scene truths. But I can assure you that am a complete romantic at heart. When I watch a love-story, I madly enjoy it and feel absolutely enamoured with the theme. I clap, get emotional and kind of get carried away with its rhythm. So, I’ve no qualms in toying with the matters of love in my on-screen endeavours. Within a month, I’ll announce something which is rather light, frothy and happy in disposition. Quite a challenging departure from my root of origin, isn’t it?” he discloses a bit, leaving the rest under the wraps.
And what about a much-speculated sequel to his magnum-opus Fashion? “If the second part doesn’t equate the success of its preceding prequel, then that’s injustice. Moreover, the film has a reiterating effect on the satellite channels via its repeat telecasts,” he reasons. Even high-voltage, rusty action-flicks like Rowdy Rathore or a youthful joyride like Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani can keep him glued to their convincing narratives. “It’s not a different planet that I hail from. Everything occurs on this earth itself. And as a filmmaker, I ought to keep tabs of my fellow artistes’ styles and sensibilities too!” he concedes with a smile. Although his gut-instincts lie on the 70 mm celluloid where he prefers to stick and call the shots but with a phenomenal boom in the TV industry wherein a bandwagon of Bolly-bigwigs has streamed in from the silver-screen, the director doesn’t mind straying into tellywood keeping his options open for the near future. “If I get a substantial offer on the tube, I’ll definitely take the plunge as a creative steersman. In fact, earlier I had dabbled in television as a producer for a nine-episode teleseries titled Specials @ 10 on Sony TV,” he informs.
Currently busy scripting a musical love-saga, the director promises to make this pipeline-project public soon.