I am like an orphan, I don’t belong to any camp in the industry: Madhur Bhandarkar

Madhur: I was sitting in my office one day when my boy who was cleaning one of the rooms happened to stack a pile of four to five kingfisher calendars. It caught my eye and when I started flipping through them a thought struck me about these girls and how most of them had disappeared after becoming calendar girls. I have never seen them in page 3 parties, events or other social dos. I was intrigued by their disappearance after completing their tenure of one year as a calendar girl. That was the starting point of my research on this subject. I found out that out of these calendar girls, only one per cent succeeded in making it big whereas the rest 99 per cent disappeared into oblivion. I then spoke to some of these former calendar girls to understand more. Some were forthcoming and some were not. Some had changed their professions while others had married. Some spoke good things while others narrated bad things about how life changed after becoming a calendar girl. That’s the reason some abandoned the glamour world. I also spoke to other people who were involved in the making of the calendar to get a more wider perspective. Ultimately, I got a lot of material to shoot for a movie.

Ques: Deepika Padukone and Katrina Kaif also started their career as calendar girls before making it big in Bollywood. Did you talk to them to understand how they encashed on their success as calendar girls while others couldn’t?

Madhur: No, I didn’t. Deepika and Katrina form the microscopic minorities and apart from them not many have succeeded in a big way. My story is about those who couldn’t make it. I am making a film about underdogs.

Ques: Who all are you planning to expose apart from cricket bigwigs through Calendar Girls?

Madhur: (laughs) After watching the trailer, people have started making their guesses and have been making their own interpretations. I don’t want to say anything at this point. All that I can convey is there are things shown in the movie that will shock you, make you laugh, cry. I have shown both the good as well as the bad part. However, I steered away from passing a judgment. I have just shown what usually happens in that world.

Ques: The five new actresses and their bikinis have made quite a splash. Is this your boldest movie till date both in terms of subject and bodily exposure?

Madhur: I don’t know if this is my boldest film but it will shock you for sure. Also, the film is not about bikinis. The bikini portion comes for about 35 to 40 sec in the film and when the girls come out of the pool. Just because the name of the film is Calendar Girls, it doesn’t mean that the girls will be in bikini all the time. I won’t make a film that is sleazy. The film has some piousness in the subject.

Ques: You haven’t had a great run at the box-office after Fashion. What went wrong?

Madhur: Nothing. I don’t see it as failures. After fashion any filmmaker would have made a bigger film but I chose jail as a subject that’s because I wanted to tell the audience that particular story. Hence I made it followed by Heroine and I don’t regret making any of these films. I stand by my movies. Heroine was made on a budget of Rs 21 crore and it earned Rs 40 crore. Had Heroine come first and Fashion later, people would have called fashion a flop.

Ques: What’s the status of Madam Ji?

Madhur: Priyanka(Chopra) absolutely loved the subject and to shoot the same I need 60 days. Currently, she is super busy with her other projects. So it’s on hold for the moment. When we both are able to match our dates, we will start work on the same.

Ques: What’s your fixation with women-centric films.

Madhur: I don’t see my films as gender specific films. All the subjects that I have made into films are topics I have felt passionate about. I have never seen them as male or female centric.

Ques: When do we see you directing the Khans?

Madhur: (laughs) I am a big fan of Salman Khan and I loved Bajrangi Bhaijaan. However, I don’t belong to any of the camps in the industry. I am like an orphan in an orphan camp. If I have a subject for the Khans, I will surely approach them.

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Ques: What’s coming next from your stables?

Madhur: I have two subjects, one is a thriller and the other one a romantic film.

Ques: Is the thriller based on Indrani Mukerjea?

Madhur: I knew you would ask me this. It’s not based on Indrani. I am not currently making any film on her.