‘You’re a mad, foolish guy’: Madhur Bhandarkar reveals why Mahesh Bhatt abused him after Chandni Bar release

Madhur Bhandarkar reflects on his first hit film, Chandni Bar. He was unaware of its success until Mahesh Bhatt called him to witness audience reactions.

Filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar is known for hard-hitting dramas and women-centric film like Chandni Bar, Page 3, Fashion, Corporate and Heroine. Some of his critically acclaimed films have turned out to be box-office blockbusters as well.

Filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar talks about how Mahesh Bhatt pushed him to go out and take the reactions of the audience after Chandni Bar hit the theaters.

One such movie was Chandni Bar (2001) which marked Madhur Bhandarkar's hit entry in Bollywood. Chandni Bar, starring Tabu, was a story of a bar dancer and explored the gritty life of Mumbai underworld, sex work and gun crime. However, when the film was released, Madhur was actually sleeping at home. It was director Mahesh Bhatt who pushed him to check out crowd's reactions, visit theaters and live up his first hit.

'You are a mad, foolish guy. Your film is a blockbuster'

Talking about the incident on Gamechanger podcast to Komal Nahata, Madhur 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,” said Madhur.

Madhur said how we first went to Gaiety Galaxy and Star City cinema theatres which were running houseful. Nobody knew him then so he could freely ask the public whether they liked the film or not. He was happy to know that the audience was reacting positively to his film. He then called Mahesh to give him a wake-up call. "I needed that pep talk. He said it so right. People crave for such a big hit. You don’t see one every day,” added Madhur.

Madhur Bhandarkar's latest projects

Madhur Bhandarkar’s last directorial was the sports comedy Babli Bouncer, starring Tamannaah Bhatia, which released on Disney+ Hotstar in 2022.