Madhur Bhandarkar recalls facing criticism for this reason when he made Heroine with Kareena Kapoor Khan in 2012.
Madhur Bhandarkar, known for deriving inspiration from real-life stories for his film, recently recalled facing criticism for drawing parallels from real actress’s lives for his 2012 film Heroine in which Kareena Kapoor Khan played the lead protagonist.
In a recent interview with India Today, the National Award-winning filmmaker shared, “I still remember, when I was making Heroine with Kareena, a lot of people were very upset with me. Upon seeing the film, they felt that I had exposed a lot things that goes on in the life of an actress. I had drawn a lot of parallels and similarities from the lives of real-life actresses and depicted that in the film, but I faced a lot of slack for it.”
Bhandarkar said that he failed to understand why the same people who appreciated a Traffic Signal or a Corporate had an issue with Heroine, and added that he cannot do injustice to his audience.
The director also revealed that his film’s leading lady Kareena Kapoor Khan till today, believes and says that Heroine has been one of her best performances as an actor.
Bhandarkar told the publication, “In fact, recently, when Kareena completed 25 years in the industry, one of the films that were shown to her fans was also Heroine. I’m very proud of my baby and even today when I have to make these films, I make it with the same zeal and the same people I have worked with. When this movie was made, today’s generation was possibly 7-8 years old, but all thanks to OTT, they have seen the film now and absolutely loved it.”
Further, in his interview, the ‘Chandni Bar’ director also revealed that he is in talks with PVR to re-release Heroine in cinema halls.
“Kareena is very proud of this film. Everywhere she goes, she praises the film. Even today, whenever we meet or talk, Kareena always calls it one of her favourite films. She portrayed the character of Mahi brilliantly and she’s indeed one of my favourites too. She’s a phenomenal actress and I’m very happy that even today, when I meet people who have watched the film, they always say that Kareena in the last 25 minutes totally nailed the film with her aura and her performance,” Bhandarkar was quoted as saying.
Back in the day when Heroine was announced, there was a lot of buzz around it for its casting. Initially, Madhur Bhandarkar had planned the film with Aishwarya Rai Bachchan as the main lead. However, she was replaced with Kareena Kapoor Khan after the news of the actress’ pregnancy broke in media. The film follows the story of a female superstar who struggles through the trials and tribulations of being a Bollywood actress.
