Madhur Bhandarkar on reports of teaming up with Kangana Ranaut: Nothing as such is happening

Babli Bouncer is Madhur Bhandarkar’s first film after almost a gap of five years. The film stars Tamannaah Bhatia and focuses on a romantic comedy, believed to be the actor’s best performance in her career. Madhur Bhandarkar’s last film Indu Sarkar released in the second half of 2017. What kept him away from films all these years? He told Hindustan Times exclusively, “I make all kinds of films.” Also read: Madhur Bhandarkar on casting Tamannaah in Babli Bouncer: ‘People will ask where was she all this time’

“After 2017 I was working on a total of 3 subjects, including Babli Bouncer. It took 3 years to write– a women-centric hard-hitting film, a larger-than-life cop action drama and Babli Bouncer. Usually, people jump from one film to another, but I wanted to invest my time in writing. When things got finalised for Babli Bouncers, we were thinking about the cast. In between, corona came to India. Two years have gone into it. We were just sitting idle. I also did India Lockdown which will be released soon,” he explained the journey.

While a lot has been said about Bollywood’s box office lull right now, Madhur Bhandarkar believes it’s just a phase. He puts his faith in cinema like many. With his experience, he added, “If the film industry suffers, we will suffer. This year only films like RRR, Pushpa, Gangubai Kathiawadi, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, and The Kashmir Files have done wonders at the box office. They were superhit. So this is wrong that films are not working. The magic of cinema will never go.” But the question remains, why certain films are still failing at the box office despite their magnum-opus feel? He thinks the content has changed. “The audience is now watching so many types of content on OTT platforms. The standard has become higher. But my gut feeling is that they will go parallel together.”

Besides Babli Bouncer, Madhur Bhandarkar also has India Lockdown depicting the raw, gruesome story of Indians during the first lockdown in India due to covid-19 in 2020. Before he announces the release date, reports suggested that he is likely to reunite with his Fashion star Kangana Ranaut for an untitled project. He denied, “Right now nothing as such is happening. Kangana is a very talented actress. We meet and talk. My concentration is only on Babli Bouncer. Followed by India lockdown.”