Madhur Bhandarkar reveals Mahesh Bhatt abused him after Chandni Bar released: ‘You’re a mad, foolish guy, your film is…’

Madhur Bhandarkar and Mahesh Bhatt

After his 1999 debut action drama Trishakti flopped at the box office, Madhur Bhandarkar bounced back with his next movie, the 2001 release Chandni Bar. Headlined by Tabu, the crime drama also starred Atul Kulkarni, Ananya Khare, Rajpal Yadav, Upendra Limaye, Vinay Apte, and Manoj Joshi in pivotal roles. The film was a critical and commercial success and went on to win four National Film Awards for Best Film on Other Social Issues, Best Actress to Tabu, Best Supporting Actor to Atul Kulkarni, and Best Supporting Actress to Ananya Khare. In a recent interview, Madhur recalled an amusing incident after the release of Chandni Bar when Mahesh Bhatt hurled abuses at him for sleeping while the film was going housefull at the theatres.

Spaeking to the veteran trade analyst Komal Nahta on his podcast Game Changers, the filmmaker said, “I remember I was sleeping on a carpet on the floor of my 1BHK under a fan, I didn’t even have an AC then. Around 2 pm, Mahesh Bhatt saab called me. I’d met him 2-3 times before that. He asked me, ‘Madhur, where are you?’ I was sleepy so I said I’m at home. He hurled abuses at me and said, ‘You’re a mad, foolish guy. Your film is a blockbuster, it’s such a big hit and you’re sleeping. Go and watch the rush outside theatres. You won’t get milestones like these too often.’ So I got so charged up. I said sorry to him, and ran like the fire brigade had sounded an alarm.”

Madhur added that he went to Gaiety Galaxy and Star Theatre in Mumbai, which had huge number of people watching his film Chandni Bar. He called and thanked Mahesh Bhatt for giving him the wake-up call as he further stated, “I needed that pep talk. He said it so right, people crave for such a big hit. You don’t see one every day.” The director also shared the positive reactions he shared from the city and around the country. “Tabu had called first. She said, ‘Sir, dekho jalwa ho gaya aapka (See, you’ve done something great). The film has taken a huge opening.’ Lot of distributors called me, the media also congratulated me”, he recalled.

After Chandni Bar, Madhur Bhandarkar made several other critically and commercially acclaimed movies such as Page 3, Fashion, Traffic Signal, Corporate, and Heroine. His last few films including Calendar Girls, Indu Sarkar, India Lockdown, and Babli Bouncer have failed to receive the same love from the audiences and critics as his previous movies.

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