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Madhur Bhandarkar | |
|---|---|
 Bhandarkar in 2013 | |
| Born | (1968-08-26)26 August 1968 (age 57) Mumbai,Maharashtra, India |
| Occupations | Writer and film maker |
| Years active | 1995–present |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 1 |
| Honours | Padma Shri (2016) |
| Website | www |
Madhur Bhandarkar (born 26 August 1968) is an Indian film director, screenwriter, and producer. In 2016, Bhandarkar was honoured with thePadma Shri, thefourth highest civilian honour, by theGovernment of India.[1]
He is known for directing the critically acclaimed crime dramaChandni Bar (2001), won him theNational Film Award for Best Film on Social Issues, the dramasPage 3 (2005),Traffic Signal (2007), andFashion (2008), winning theNational Film Award for Best Feature Film for the first, and theNational Film Award for Best Direction for the second, whilst earningFilmfare Award nominations forBest Director andBest Screenplay for the lattermost.
Bhandarkar also co – produced a Bengali filmAvijatrik (2021) based on the novelAparajito byBibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay, which won theNational Film Award for Best Feature Film in Bengali.[2] He has also been nominated as society member of theSatyajit Ray Film and Television Institute by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.[3]
Bhandarkar worked in a video cassette library inKhar, a suburb ofMumbai. This gave him access to a large collection of movies and he studied film – making through it.
After trying his skills with small – time filmmakers as an assistant, Bhandarkar landed up as an assistant toRam Gopal Varma. He even played his first cameo in Varma's romantic comedyRangeela (1995), where he was the associate director to Varma.
A couple of years later he made his directorial debut withTrishakti (1999) which took more than three years to make. The film had a relatively low key cast and was largely ignored at the box office.
In 2001, he directed the crime dramaChandni Bar starringTabu andAtul Kulkarni in lead roles. The film depicted the gritty life of theMumbai underworld, including prostitution,dance bars and gun crime. It received high critical acclaim upon release, and emerged as a commercial success, elevating Bhandarkar into the top league of filmmakers of Bollywood. The film earned him theNational Film Award for Best Film on Social Issues.
In 2005, Bhandarkar directed the dramaPage 3 starringKonkona Sen Sharma, which revolved around thePage 3 culture and media in the city of Mumbai. Upon release, the film received high critical acclaim and emerged as a commercial success at the box office. It also earned Bhandarkar theNational Film Award for Best Feature Film and theFilmfare Award for Best Screenplay, in addition to his first nomination for theFilmfare Award for Best Director.
After helming the corporate dramaCorporate (2006) starringBipasha Basu andKay Kay Menon, he directed the social dramaTraffic Signal (2007) starringKunal Khemu andKonkona Sen Sharma. The film depicted the lives and travails of people living around a fictitious traffic signal inMumbai. Upon release, it received high critical acclaim, but emerged as a middling commercial success at the box office. It earned Bhandarkar theNational Film Award for Best Direction.
Bhandarkar's next directorial venture, the dramaFashion (2008) starringPriyanka Chopra,Kangana Ranaut andMugdha Godse in lead roles, emerged as his biggest commercial success to date. The film, which explored feminism and female power in the world of Indian fashion, received widespread critical acclaim upon release.Fashion has widely been regarded as one of the best women-centric films in Bollywood.[4][5]
He next directed the prison dramaJail (2009), starringNeil Nitin Mukesh and Mugdha Godse, which depicted the lives of wrongful convicts in Indian jails. The film received mixed reviews from critics and emerged as a below average commercial success at the box office.
His next directorial venture, the drama filmHeroine (2012), was based on the glamorous world of the Hindi film industry (Bollywood). Initially set to starAishwarya Rai in the lead role, the film starredKareena Kapoor as a once – successful film actress whose career is on the decline. Upon release, the film received mixed – to – positive reviews, with Kapoor's performance and Bhandarkar's direction receiving high praise; it also emerged as a commercial success at the box office.
Madhur was conferred PL Deshpande Award a.k.a. Zenith Asia Award for significantly shaping the film making culture in his unique works and he has been described as 'the Film Maker of the First Decade of the 21st Century'. On the Silver Jubilee Year of Aashay Film Club, award ceremony took place on 16 Nov at National Film Archive Theatre during the eighth Pulotsav – An Art Festival in Pune. PL Deshpande was a renowned writer, stage and film actor and his literary works are still revered in Maharashtra and others parts of the world. In his honour, Zenith Asia Award was given to Madhur Bhandarkar and his filmChandni Bar was also screened during the fest amongst landmark 25 films from world cinema.
In Nov, 2010 National Film Archive of India (NFAI) announced to preserve all the films of Madhur Bhandarkar. Chandni Bar, Page – 3, Corporate, Traffic Signal, Fashion and Jail found space in Government's Archival data for Indian films.
Bhandarkar hails from a Marathi and Konkani[6] speakingGaud Saraswat Brahmin family. He is a school drop – out. He came from a middle – class family. As a result, Madhur had to take up various jobs. He worked at a video store as an errand boy and dropped off cassettes to people from many walks of life including dance bar girls and film stars. He also sold chewing gum at traffic signals and worked as an assistant to small – time directors for a salary of₹ 1000.[7]
He is a great devotee of the Hindu GodSiddhivinayak and has been walking from his house in Khar, Mumbai to the temple for the past 18 years on every Tuesday. Madhur also regularly visits Vaishno Devi temple in Jammu & Kashmir and the Golden Temple in Amritsar. According to him, the filmCorporate (2006) was his most difficult film as people in corporate world would shun him after he baredPage 3 culture in his earlier film. He took inspiration forCorporate from the Coke – Pepsi controversy. He has been invited to deliver lectures on corporate issues to management students after the release ofCorporate. (Interview to TV channel IBN Lokmat on 26 November 2008) Bhandarkar married his girlfriend Renu Namboodiri on 15 December 2003 inMumbai.[8] They have a daughter named Siddhi.
In most of his films, Bhandarkar's protagonist are females. (Tabu inChandni Bar,Raveena Tandon inSatta,Konkona Sen Sharma inPage 3,Bipasha Basu inCorporate,Neetu Chandra inTraffic Signal,Priyanka Chopra inFashion andKareena Kapoor inHeroine.) The exception here beingNeil Nitin Mukesh, who was cast as the protagonist inJail. He has also depicted various gay characters in his films likePage 3,Traffic Signal andFashion.
In an interview, he said: "My movies are not exposes, maybe they just hold up a mirror to society. My movies are not judgmental; I just show what happens in our society, sometimes there could be a solution and sometimes there may be none. Life goes on.".[9] Madhur is known for his hard – hitting and realistic films.[10][11]
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