‘Heroine’ Drew Flak From Industry For Showing Real Bollywood, Says Madhur Bhandarkar

Mumbai: Bollywood filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar’s 1990 film ‘Heroine’ drew a lot of criticism from the film fraternity as it revealed the real side of the glamour world.

In an interview with Times Of India (TOI), the filmmaker stated that many people from the industry were upset with him after the release of ‘Heroine’.

“When I made the movie, people in the film fraternity got very upset with me. According to them, I had taken a lot of things from real life. But the same people appreciated me and my work when I made it on other fields. But I had to be true to my craft. What I showed in ‘Heroine’ is 95 percent true. I am an honest filmmaker and I stand by the kind of work that I have done in my career. I don’t belong to any lobby or camp,” said Bhandarkar.

“After Sushant Singh Rajput’s untimely demise, people on social media are telling me whatever I had shown in the movie ‘Heroine’ is true. I have shown in the film what actors go through, how they fight their own battles, the PR things and all,” he added.

The film starred Kareena Kapoor, Arjun Rampal, Divya Dutta, Randeep Hooda and Shahana Goswami in prominent roles.

A review of the film by Hindustan Times stated, “Heroine never rises to the occasion. Bhandarkar and his team of co-writers – Anuradha Tiwari, Manoj Tyagi and Niranjan Iyengar – bung in every possible element of masala. There’s alcohol, affairs, a sex tape and even – gasp – a lesbian one-night stand. But Heroine doesn’t even deliver the frisson of a good Stardust story. It’s limp and, more incredibly, boring.”