Shekhar Kapur says he never walked out of Bobby Deol-Twinkle Khanna's Barsaat
Bobby Deol burst onto the Bollywood scene back in ’95 with Barsaat. Originally, the film was supposed to be helmed by Shekhar Kapur—yes, the guy behind Masoom and Mr. India.
But somewhere along the way, Rajkumar Santoshi slid into the director’s chair. For ages, everyone’s been saying Kapur bailed on the project. Apparently, that’s not really how it went down.
In this recent Filmfare chat, Shekhar Kapur set the record straight. He didn’t just walk away—he straight up got fired. “I never walked out. I have been thrown out of films, I was fired,” he admitted.
According to him, Barsaat was still taking shape, but he and Dharmendra (Bobby’s dad) just weren’t vibing on the creative front. Then Sunny Deol, chilling in London at the time, made a call and soon enough, Rajkumar Santoshi was in the mix.
Kapur said he even tried to smooth things out with Santoshi, but the next thing he knew, Santoshi was directing the film. That’s showbiz for you. And for the record, Kapur didn’t waste any time—he jumped right into making Bandit Queen after that.
” People say I walked out of it, but let me be honest, I didn’t walk out of it. Mind you, I immediately went and made Bandit Queen,” revealed Shekhar Kapur.
Bobby Deol, talking at the Jagran Film Festival in 2023, had his own version. He remembered shooting with Kapur for nearly a month before Kapur got the offer to make Bandit Queen.
Supposedly, Kapur wanted to do both movies, but Dharmendra wasn’t having any delays. So, Shekhar moved on, and Rajkumar Santoshi, who was apparently waiting in the wings, took over. Bobby seemed pretty happy about how things turned out.
Barsaat itself? Massive launchpad for both Bobby Deol and Twinkle Khanna. A small-town guy, a big city, love story—classic Bollywood. The film was a commercial hit, made on a budget of ₹8 crore and raking in nearly ₹34 crore globally.
As for Shekhar Kapur, he’s kind of a legend. He broke through with Masoom in the early ‘80s, gave us the iconic Mr. India, and really made waves with Bandit Queen.
Later, he crossed over to Hollywood, directing heavy-hitters like Elizabeth and its sequel, both of which scored big at the Oscars.
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