‘Maybe Industry Ignored Sushant Singh Rajput…,’ Says Madhur Bhandarkar

New Delhi: Filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar says that the boycott of films like Aamir Khan’s Laal Singh Chaddha and Ranbir Kapoor’s Brahmastra is ‘just a phase.’

The Fashion and Chandni Bar filmmaker was talking to Maniesh Paul on his podcast.

“It has happened many times before. Like in the case of Gangubai Kathiawadi, people watched it and it was nice. I think this (boycott culture) is a phase. If the film is nice and the content is strong, people will go and watch. People watched Kantara, The Kashmir Files, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, it’s not like people don’t go to watch the movies,” he told Maniesh Paul.

According to Bhandarkar, boycott calls increased after the death of Sushant Singh Rajput. He went on to say that maybe the late actor was ‘ignored’ by the industry. Sushant was found hanging in his Mumbai apartment in June 2020.

“I have noticed that this (boycott) happened largely after the passing of Sushant Singh Rajput. Maybe the industry ignored him… He was from a non film background and he came and he struggled… It was a very unfortunate, untimely demise and from there, the anger amid the public got aggravated. It is the public’s opinion,” he said.

Recalling the political opposition to his 2017 film Indu Sarkar set during the Emergency, Madhur Bhandarkar said no one supported him back then. Revealing that he felt bad about it, he told Maniesh, “I had no one. No one from the film industry stood by my side. A lot of people who speak about freedom of expression, no one even tweeted when my film was in trouble. I have always stood for other people’s movies. I was feeling bad, I was fighting a lonely battle.”