The Moscow International Film Festival is the second oldest film festival in the world after the Venice Film Festival. Needless to say, a screening at this festival, where Federico Fellini’s 8½ was premiered, is still regarded prestigious. This year, besides Taare Zameen Par, Billa, Roots, Kanchivaram and Chaturanga, Madhur Bhandarkar’s Fashion too has been selected in the festival’s Indian panorama section. Madhur, who flew down to Moscow on Friday, is excited though he hasn’t yet been able to recover completely from the way friend Ashutosh Gowariker publicly pulled down Fashion’s lead, Priyanka Chopra’s performance at a recent award ceremony.
Just before leaving for Moscow, Madhur spoke about how he was shocked to hear Gowariker’s onstage comment. “I was surprised that Ashu could make such a comment in public. What’s even more shocking is that Ashu and I are friends. Our wives interact and we have family ties. Even in our professional lives, we form a mutual admiration society. I was exasperated when I sat in the audience and heard Ashu questioning how Priyanka could have won the Best Actress award when Ash’s Jodhaa Akbar too had been in competition for the same category.”
Though Madhur came down heavily upon Gowariker’s comments, he was clear that he wouldn’t make any comments about Gowariker’s reference to a comment supposedly made in a similar tone by Jaya Bachchan. “Priyanka has worked hard for the film. It was a difficult role and there are so many shades she had to portray. What’s worse is that Priyanka is the heroine of Ashu’s next. What kind of a decorum is this to humiliate one’s own actor in public?” he asked.
So, was Madhur expecting an apology from his friend? “I’ve known him as a gentleman. Ashu didn’t apologise. I’m in such a state of shock that I want to refuse to believe that such a thing happened. But since I was there, I can’t live in denial.”
Though Madhur has spoken to Priyanka after the incident,
he didn’t discuss this issue in detail. “Everybody dispersed immediately after the event. Nobody raised the topic in front of us. Priyanka is my friend and a very gracious woman. She’d rather not dwell on something like this. Later, when she called me up, we spoke about Fashion being shown at the Moscow International Film Festival. Instead of being negative, we spoke about how this recognition is a matter of pride.”
While it’s important to let bygones be bygones, does this incident indicate how ruthless the industry is in the name of being one big family? Does such public expression of reservation also reveal the nasty side of competition? “I know the whole industry is superficial. I do attend events but basically, I don’t belong to the film fraternity. There are bound to be a mixed bag of emotions when one film beats others to win a popular award. Of course, there are people who have been nice to me and have been very generous and genuine in their praise. A day before the event, both Ashu and I jointly gave an interview to a channel. I had no clue about his state of mind when he made such a comment,” Madhur added.
While the scar has been pretty deep, Madhur is happy to have been able to divert his attention to the response his films get in Russian. “I’m a positive person. This is my second visit to the festival. Chandni Bar too was screened at this section,” he said. Meanwhile, Madhur has also been fielding questions on whether he is trying to incorporate recent reallife instances of Sheetal Mafatlal and Shiney Ahuja’s brush with the law. “I’m making no further additions. Jail will release sometime in October and I wouldn’t want to reveal more,” he insisted, a tad uncomfortable with the mention of the alleged rape charges on Shiney. “It’s time for me to go in for a security check. I can’t be late for an international flight,” he said before signing off.
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