Shekhar Kapur Slams OTT Platform for Editing Bandit Queen Without Permission: ‘Would They Cut a Christopher Nolan Film?’

Shekhar Kapur Slams OTT Platform for Editing Bandit Queen Without Permission: Shekhar Kapur, the director, has expressed his annoyance over the editing of his film Bandit Queen from 1994 on an OTT platform, stating that someone has cut it beyond recognition. He lamented that the OTT version has been cut by someone without consultation with him.

Shekhar wondered whether the same liberties would be taken with a film by a director such as Christopher Nolan.

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Shekhar Kapur fumes over OTT edits

That was when suddenly, Shekhar took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to praise the Netflix miniseries Adolescence. He wrote, “I’m not the first one to say this but #Adolescence from #Netflix redefines what truly great series can achieve. Its defies the regular 3 act structure of cause and effect and plunges you deeply into the minds of the characters and allows you to reflect upon yourself ..It’s next level story telling. Watch it.”

Reacting to the statement, filmmaker Sudhir Mishra said such bold storytelling would never be allowed in India, writing, “Nobody will let us do something like that . One should do it as an independent film. Something of our own which is wanders, then stops, digs and goes where the smell takes us.”

At this moment, Shekhar expressed disappointment over edits made to his 1994 film Bandit Queen. He wrote, “I wonder @IAmSudhirMishra if OTT platforms would let me make #BanditQueen the way I made it years ago. The Bandit Queen on #AmazonPrime is unrecognisable from my film. Someone has cut it beyond recognition. And yet it carries my name as Director. And no one asked me! Are we lesser beings than Western Directors? Would they have the guts to cut a Chris Nolan film without his permission?”

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Hum Tum's Kunal Kohli feels Shekhar has the freedom to play around with his stories and projects as he has tasted success in Hollywood. He condemned the action of editing his film without his consent. “But the Shekhar Kapur before Bandit Queen would definitely not be allowed by any OTT to make Bandit Queen the way he wants to. Cutting / Hacking your film without your permission is shocking to say the least,” he wrote.

Filmmaker Hansal Mehta also chimed in and wrote, “That is the point I’ve been trying to make @shekharkapur. Are we here to foster superior storytelling or to produce cattle-feed? Leave the good stories, the innovative storytelling, the silences, the slow burn, the experiments, the audacity, the budgets to the superior minds from the west. Welcome back to the days of colonisation”.

About the film

The tale of Chambal Dacoits was bleakly recounted in this 1994 film directed by Shekhar Kapur. The film was adjudicated to be the Best Hindi Film and the National Award for Acting went to Seema Biswas for her representation. Bandit Queen made an appearance in the Directors' Fortnight section of the Cannes Film Festival of 1994 and made its way through some more film festivals. The film was also the official entry from India for Best Foreign Language Film at the 67th Academy Awards but sadly did not make it to the nominations.

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