Guneet Monga and Kushan Nandy

Imagine not meeting Ratna Pathak Shah’s Usha buaji from Lipstick Under My Burkha (2016). Or not being introduced to the tender story of friendship in No Fathers in Kashmir (2019). The FCAT was instrumental in clearing the two films, among countless others, after their makers had a run-in with the censor board, thus making Hindi cinema all the richer.  

Several filmmakers expressed their dismay at the news of the statutory body’s abolition overnight. Director Kushan Nandy, whose Babumoshai Bandookbaaz (2017) was given close to 48 cuts by the censor board, then headed by Pahlaj Nihalani, remembers how the Nawazuddin Siddiqui-starrer found its rightful place on the big screen after eight minor cuts, thanks to the FCAT. “The CBFC had a problem with a kissing scene and the language — this, when we had [employed] the language used in Uttar Pradesh. It had become personal, which is why a body like the FCAT was important. It resolved the issues with a liberal approach,” says Nandy. The director recounts that after the film’s screening, the matter was resolved in a few hours. “They understood that the CBFC had judged in an arbitrary manner, and there was nothing defamatory in the film.”

He echoes the sentiments of filmmakers Vishal Bhardwaj, Hansal Mehta and actor Richa Chadha who, on social media, expressed that it is a sad day for Indian cinema. “Freedom of speech is the most important for filmmakers, and I feel like it’s being taken away. How many filmmakers will have the time and money to go to high court?”

Producer Guneet Monga, whose 2017 offering Haraamkhor was banned by the CBFC until the Tribunal intervened, urges the industry to initiate a dialogue. “It is confusing for a body to be removed overnight. Was there a discussion before? This is a question I would like to be answered,” she states.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui is using the lockdown to hone his craft by watching a slew of ‘tough’ films
Prashant Singh (HINDUSTAN TIMES; April 12, 2020)

By now, almost all the Bollywood stars have discovered various ways to stay busy during the Coronavirus lockdown. But Nawazuddin Siddiqui feels this “free time” has given him “an opportunity to rediscover myself as an artiste and sharpen nuances of my craft”. “So, you can say I’ve gone back to being an acting/cinema student all over again,” he shares.

And for the same, the actor has hit upon a “unique, special method”. He explains: “I watch back-to-back movies of one particular favourite actor of mine such as Anthony Hopkins, Daniel Day-Lewis, Ricardo Darin and Tony Leung etc. Then, I move on to another actor’s films. That way, I understand how the same actor must have prepared for different parts. So, I get a sneak peek into his mindset and processes.” Siddiqui maintains he “just can’t sit through ‘time-pass’ films”.

“The idea is to watch tough, path-breaking work. I feel people — especially the younger generation —are also watching that kind of work on OTT platforms. So, after this period [Covid-19 restrictions], ‘time-pass’ films may start looking out of place. And accordingly, our filmmakers also have to alter their craft,” says the actor, who was busy shooting for Kushan Nandy’s (of Babumoshai Bandookbaaz fame) next when the lockdown came into force.

Siddiqui was also supposed to travel to New York for shooting. Is he missing work? “I’m not, because I am the kind of person who gets accustomed to different situations. I feel, this pandemic will give us a completely new perspective towards everything. And whoever sticks to the same old mindset will appear odd and outdated,” he says.

Once things return to ‘normal’, Siddiqui feels he is going to “observe and value every day of his life much more”. “Plus, I will also attach great value to every human being as well as his well-being. I feel something inside all of us will alter. Most importantly, this pandemic has made all of us realise that only the idea of oneness will help us sail through such tough situations,” he adds.

Actor's hit list

Anthony Hopkins: The Remains of the Day, The Innocent, The Two Popes

Daniel Day Lewis: There Will be Blood, Lincoln, In The Name of The Father, Phantom Thread

Kevin Spacey: American Beauty, Seven, Outbreak

Matthew McConaughey: Dallas Buyers Club, The Gentlemen, Serenity

Rachana Dubey (BOMBAY TIMES; October 20, 2018)

There’s more to her than just a glamorous personality. She’s a talented artiste and now a film producer, too. Chitrangda Singh has donned several hats in her career that took off back in 2003. She admits that she wasn’t looking to be an actor, and hence wasn’t focussed on making it big in the profession. While her acting career hasn’t seen a high in a long spell, her first production, Soorma, has cemented her space as a film producer. In conversation with BT, Chitrangda talks about her forthcoming film, Baazaar, why only actresses are asked about catfights and why the #MeToo campaign has found approval in India, too. Excerpts…

Baazaar is your second release of the year, earlier, Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster 3 didn’t turn out as you would have wished for. Given that your role in Baazaar isn’t all that long, what sort of expectations do you have from the film?
It’s very important because every film counts. It either adds to you as an actor or just affects your career. It doesn’t always come out looking the way you expect it to. Your performance is not highlighted the way you wanted it to be. So, Baazaar is important, because Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster 3 didn’t get the response we expected. I wasn’t happy with the way things turned out for me in particular.

You also turned producer this year with Soorma, a sports drama. Your foray into production was unexpected.
Firstly, I think everyone knows that I wasn’t doing much work since 2014-15. I was also going through a bad patch in my personal life. While I was away from movies, I found time to work on ideas that I had written a long time ago and I started developing scripts. That’s the time when I met hockey player Sandeep Singh and because I was in a writing zone, I penned his story. It turned out to be an unbelievable idea for a film, better than anything I could think of. I decided to make the film and because I took the rights, I promised him that it will be made without any concoctions. So, eventually, I turned producer, but I was more involved with the creative side. It was a great learning curve and while you’re just on the creative side, it’s still a lot of work. It took us a while to find a corporate partner, because the response to the script initially wasn’t welcoming. A lot of biopics were in the pipeline at that time. Besides, no one expected me to produce a film. The thought was, ‘Arey, isko bhi producer banne ka shaukh chadha hai. Sabko producer banna hai.’ I heard that line quite often. I’ll give them the benefit of doubt, because people are hesitant till you don’t prove yourself, which is fair.

Is it tough to balance between acting and film production?
The worlds overlap to a large extent, which is why so many male actors have been doing it for years. It just gets you more ownership and control of a project that you anyway invest so much in. In the male actor’s case, it’s also their name and image that matters. With Soorma, I’ve just familiarised myself with the process of film production. It’s not that simple, you have to make a few films and experience things to learn what it is like to be a producer.

Women started making films as early as 1926 but even today, their numbers are dismal when compared to the men. Also, a woman’s entry into the filmmaking business is often met with scepticism.
I don’t blame people. I don’t want to make this about men and women. Both male and female actors will be asked as many questions if they change tracks. You need to prove yourself in the film industry. Once you’ve done that, no one asks questions. If Anushka Sharma wants to make a film tomorrow, no one will question her now. It takes time and a few films to get there. Yes, we do need more women to make films, which will make it look as normal as it is for men.

Although you have a relatively smaller role in Baazaar, do you think women, overall have been getting better-written parts than before?
The audience just doesn’t want to watch formulaic films anymore. There is a change and women are becoming more integral to the storytelling process. The characters don’t always have to be feminists and/or inclined towards women’s liberation. Take Alia Bhatt in Raazi for instance. You don't need a man to carry the plot ahead. This is the reality of life. That’s how important women really are.

At the trailer launch of Baazaar, Radhika Apte and you were asked about being comfortable with each other during the shoot. Two men working together seldom brave questions about being comfortable while sharing screen space. Why do you think such questions are posed only to women?
Were Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor asked the same question? I think it’s the nature of the profession. Actors, irrespective of their gender, are greedy and selfish about scripts and roles. They seek the best for themselves because they’re trying to impress the audience. They want to be seen, and seen well. Having said that, I don’t know why men are rarely asked questions about how it was working with their male co-star because they are just as concerned as women are about their role, work and space. I think women are asked such questions because they are perceived as people who fight. Probably, they really have to fight to get what they deserve because nothing ever comes easy for them. Women are anyway more expressive, volatile and emotional than men. Among my cousins, my brothers fought lesser than my sisters. It’s not about being sexist; it’s just that women are more vocal and expressive, and not in a negative way. It’s so refreshing that we’re fiery and spontaneous unlike most men, who are so prim, proper and practical.

Two years ago, you had stormed out of the film Babumoshai Bandookbaaz, because you didn’t agree with the kind of (intimate) scene you were asked to shoot.
I was crying on the set when he (Kushan Nandy, director) kept on telling me that I have to do as he tells me to. He was almost frantic when he jumped on the bed and started showing me how to rub myself against Nawazuddin Siddiqui. At one point, even Nawaz walked away from there. I don’t know if that is me being fiery; that’s just me. There was a female producer and a female make-up artist and everyone watched silently. It’s so strange. Today, I support Tanushree Dutta and everyone else who has spoken up about times when they experienced horrible things at work. Better late than never! You know what? It was being reported back then as well, but it wasn’t getting picked up. I think with the #MeToo campaign in the West, the cause has found some sort of approval here, too. I just hope men who are supporting this movement aren’t just doing it for the sake of sounding cool.

Why do you think women often choose to remain silent after hostile experiences?
In our society, it’s widely accepted that men need not be penalised for sexual exploitation. It’s just taken for granted. I know of mothers who would look away if their little girls tell them about being sexually targeted by someone. We hear of these stories, I have seen my friend go through this when I was in class eight. It’s in our nature to feel ashamed when something happens to us and not confront men when they wrong us. Now that we are talking, we have sent out a message that no one needs to be quiet, that the fabric of our society needs to change.

It’s been 15 years since Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi, but your career didn’t quite add up to the promise you showed in your debut film.
When I look back at my filmography, I, too, feel that it’s a little too random. Maybe, the reason is that I didn’t look to become an actor and so I didn't have a strategy. Luckily, I debuted with a film like Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi. Then, I took a six year break, because I wasn’t looking to work at that time. Eventually, I realised acting is my true calling and I came back here. I’ve been in and out of the profession since then. When you stay away from your work space for too long, you suffer. Six years is a very long time to pick up from where you left off. I made some big mistakes — I refused some really big films, which I shouldn’t have. The breaks I took to sort out my personal life also took a toll on my repertoire, but I am grateful that my work has been decent enough to keep me relevant. That’s the reason I continue to find work and now, produce films. I think I have got far more acknowledgement than the volume of work that I have done.

What do you think kept you going during your tough times?
I didn’t have a choice; I just had to keep going. The one thing that kept me happy and excited was cinema and that’s probably why I started writing. I’ve penned two scripts — a love story and a children’s film. I plan to make at least one of them next year. I also produced a film which saved me in a way. I had to find something to keep me excited. This is just the amount of perfection you can possibly manage in a lifetime.

Chitrangda Singh revisits the torturous shoot of Kushan Nandy’s 2017 directorial
As told to Avinash Lohana (MUMBAI MIRROR (October 13, 2018)

While working on Babumoshai Bandookbaaz (2016), Nawaz (Nawazuddin Siddiqui, co-star) and I were supposed to shoot for an intimate scene that was supposed to be “passionate” but described vaguely in the script. When Kushan (Nandy, director) had handed the script over to me almost a year before we started shooting, I had enquired about the scene and how he was planning to shoot it. He responded by saying, “Writers ka kaam hai, who likh dete hain, passion and all. We will see how we shoot it.” When we started filming said scene, he kept on insisting that it needed more passion and subsequently, more takes. After a point, Nawaz told him that it was enough, but he wasn’t convinced and got angry.

When I tried to reason with him, saying that I could only do so much in a sari, he said, “Dono taraf pair karke ragdo.” He insisted that I get on top of Nawaz which I couldn’t do, but he snapped at me, saying, “Upar karo and go astride.” Eventually, he got on top of Nawaz to explain what he wanted me to do. I was teary-eyed by then, but he insisted that I do as he said since he was the director. Nawaz did intervene at this point and told Kushan that he was making my job difficult by using crude language.

Nobody uttered a word and I left for my van. Kushan followed me in. When I refused to do the scene his way, he flung the script at me, which almost hit me, before storming out.

Soon afterwards, I left for the airport and I got a call from my manager informing me that Kushan was already looking for a replacement. During the film’s promotions, both Kushan and Nawaz made light of the incident. At some point, Nawaz said that I had refused to kiss him because he has a dark complexion. Even today I get messages from his fans, questioning me about it.

(Kushan Nandy and Nawazuddin Siddiqui remained unavailable for comment)

Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; August 31, 2017)

"It's a ridiculous reply,” says Kushan Nandy, who is fresh out of the success of his film Babumoshai Bandookbaaz starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui. After Nandy had sent a legal notice to Pahlaj Nihalani claiming that the then Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) chief was trying to sabotage his film, he has received an 18-page counter, claiming defamation from Nihalani.

In a chat with mid-day, Nihalani, who was recently sacked from the Censor Board, had claimed, “Filmmakers like Nandy are using the CBFC diktats to garner publicity for their films.” Kushan rubbishes this saying, “There are two major problems with how Nihalani went about things. Firstly, he wrote a letter to the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT), trying to stop them from giving us a clearance. Secondly, he claimed that we’ve shown two different films — one to the CBFC’s Examining Committee (EC), and other to the FCAT. We have no reason to do that. I had to take a lot of pains to procure a letter from authorities to confirm that both the versions, shown to the FCAT and EC, were the same. Now that he isn’t the Censor Board chief, these are his gimmicks to make sure he remains in news.”

Asked how he plans to take the issue forward, Nandy says, “I just want to move on. The first day I met Pahlaj, he’d said if it were in his hands, he would have banned the film. Anything that doesn’t fit into his mould of sanskari, he wants to pull it down. I was reading an interview where he’d said that he can’t clear a film he thinks his daughter shouldn’t watch. I have no idea what kind of archaic universe he comes from.”

Rachana Dubey (BOMBAY TIMES; August 25, 2017)

Rachana Dubey (BOMBAY TIMES; August 22, 2017)

BOMBAY TIMES (August 18, 2017)

Rachana Dubey (BOMBAY TIMES; August 16, 2017)

Subhash K Jha (DNA; August 3, 2017)

An allegation of gender misconduct by the makers of the upcoming Nawazuddin Siddiqui starrer Babumoshai Bandookbaaz has opened up a new can of worms for the Central Board Of Film Certification (CBFC). The makers claim that the film’s female producer Kiran Shroff was “humiliated” by members of the board for her choice of subject and clothes she wore during the censor screening.

The film’s director Kushan Nandy says, “After the screening, one of the board members commented on my producer’s clothes.”

Kushan adds that he met the CBFC chairperson Pahlaj Nihalani who “threatened” him with more cuts. “He told me I had two options. I could either go to the Revising Committee where I’d be given even more cuts or I could take my film to the Tribunal. I chose the latter option. He spoke to me in an arrogant tone. I tried to reason with him about the cuts. One of the dialogues that his Examining Committee ordered out drew an inference to an erection. But I pointed out to Mr Nihalani that he had shot a whole song called Khada Hai 20 years ago in celebration of an erection. But he wouldn’t hear any of it,” says Kushan.

But a livid Nihalani has a completely different story to tell. “Kushan is lying. No untoward incident happened with his producer. If that was the case, why didn’t he mention the incident when he met me? Yes, he met me after his film was rejected by our Examining Committee for what he calls a ‘private meeting’.”

He adds, “He tried to intimidate me and get the cuts in his film restored by using his political connections.” Nihalani feels Kushan is being provoked into badmouthing him. “Since I was brought in as the chairperson, these handful of team members have been working against the CBFC’s interests. They want to project themselves as the liberal forces, never mind if they end up flouting CBFC guidelines and rules,” says Nihalani.

Rachana Dubey (BOMBAY TIMES; August 2, 2017)

MID-DAY (June 23, 2017)

Nawazuddin Siddiqui-starrer Babumoshai Bandookbaaz is set to clash at the box office with Sidharth Malhotra’s A Gentleman this August. In Babumoshai Bandookbaaz, helmed by Kushan Nandy, Nawazuddin essays the role of a sharpshooter Babu. Yesterday, the makers announced the film will release on August 25. “The film is not just an action drama, but a crazy rollercoaster ride into the life of Babu. Raw and uninhibited and yet humorous,” Nandy said in a media statement.

A Gentleman is an upcoming action comedy movie, helmed by the director duo of Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK, starring Sidharth Malhotra and Jacqueline Fernandez. It is also scheduled to release on August 25.

Natasha Coutinho (MUMBAI MIRROR; June 9, 2017)

Subhash K Jha (DNA; June 30, 2016)

After Chitrangda Singh’s unceremonious walkout of Kushan Nandy’s Babumoshai Bandookbaaz, the Nawazuddin Siddiqui-starrer was without a heroine for quite a while. Not anymore, Bengali actress Bidita Bag has been roped in to replace Singh.

Bidita, who has acted in 11 films in four languages (Bengali, Hindi, Oriya and Assamese) is described by the BB team as “a younger version of Chitrangda, and just as talented”. She was last seen in the experimental segmented Hindi film X, where she was cast opposite Rajat Kapoor in one of the episodes.

Says director Kushan Nandy, “We wanted someone who would fit in to the plot effortlessly after the earlier heroine’s departure. Bidita immediately gave us the dates we required. Moreover, she is perfect for the part.”

Subhash K Jha (DNA; June 27, 2016)


There was buzz about Huma Qureshi being considered for the role. But Nawaz insists, “We’ve done whatever we could do together in Gangs Of Wasseypur and Badlapur. Now, it will look like an overkill if we come together again. My director Kushan Nandy and I are completely puzzled about the situation.”

The actor was so frustrated with the situation, he even joked with his director, “I told my director, ‘Let’s get a boy to dress up as a woman and go ahead with the shooting’. I really don’t care who my co-star is as long as the shooting doesn’t get hampered.”

Richa Chadha is likely to be signed for a Nawazuddin Siddiqui-starrer after Chitrangda Singh's controversial walkout from the film
Shaheen Parkar (MID-DAY; June 24, 2016)

Over a week after Chitrangda Singh walked out of Kushan Nandy's much delayed film, 'Babumoshai Bandookbaaz', the makers have apparently zeroed in on a replacement. Richa Chadha is likely to step in as Nawazuddin Siddiqui's leading lady.

Chitrangada had alleged that the makers were forcing her to do intimate scenes that were unnecessary and also did not go with her character. She claimed that she was asked to wear an unbuttoned blouse and a petticoat, and lie on Nawaz with her legs spread apart. The two parties had an ugly spat and traded several allegations against each other after she opted out of the film.

Says a source, "The makers were waiting for the controversy to blow over before announcing a replacement. They are finalising another actress and want to begin anew. In all probability, it is going to be Nawaz's 'Gangs of Wasseypur' (2012) co-star Richa."

A cautious Nandy says, "Richa is a wonderful actor and it would be a pleasure to have her on board, but at this juncture, I cannot comment on this. I am confirming and not confirming (the story) at this point."

He adds that their ongoing shoot in Lucknow has not stopped post Chitrangada's exit. "Our shoot is on schedule," says the director.

The long-in-the-making film had gone on the floors earlier this month in Lucknow. Nawaz and Chitrangda had shot for 'Babumoshai Bandookbaaz' in December 2014 in Kolkata, Bolpur and Burdwan in West Bengal. The shoot was, however, affected due to alleged trouble with local technicians and non-payment of dues.

Nandy then started it as a new project and whatever had been shot earlier was scrapped. He now has the added task of deleting what was shot with Chitrangda in the current Lucknow schedule.

Richa, who is attending an awards ceremony in Spain, remained unavailable for comment.