Shekhar Kapur's social media timeline can best be described as a treasure trove of memories. The filmmaker often shares pictures and videos of the past, sharing fun and poignant notes on his professional life. On Thursday, Shekhar Kapur gave us the perfect Throwback Thursday post by looking back at his Filmfare win in 1995. However, in the image shared, he is not seen holding the award as is customary with such pictures, instead, Shekhar Kapur is seen raising his handcuffed hands on stage. Explaining why, Shekhar Kapur wrote, “Was asked by Filmfare not to make any political or controversial statements for my award for Bandit Queen. The ceremony was being televised on national TV. And the film was banned anyway…I kept my promise. Didn't say a word ... but .. that's how I went on stage handcuffed.”
The film, based on the life of Phoolan Devi, was banned by Indian authorities citing graphic depictions of violence and rape. However, the Supreme Court later allowed the film to be re-released theatrically. However, “The CBFC cut out about 2 minutes of profanity and shortened all rape scenes for an 'A' (adults) rating in 1995. 17 minutes was cut for a U/A rating for television,” as per IMDb.
Take a look at the post here:
A video posted by Filmfare features his winning speech after receiving the award. When asked if the award had assuaged the grief of Bandit Queen not being nominated for the Oscars the director said, “Sometimes the Oscars are not enough. Sometimes the Oscars don't matter. Sometimes a film is far greater than the Oscars, far more important,” with the award in his cuffed hands.
In a separate post on Instagram, Shekhar Kapur provided further context and said, “Zoom into my wrists carefull, you'll see them handcuffed. It was what I called the #BanditQueen effect .. Filmfare decided to give me an award for my film Bandit Queen. But because it was banned and because there was so much controversy around the film, they made me promise I would not make any political or controversial statements...as the awards ceremony was going out live on National TV I kept my promise...and didn't say a word…I took the award and raised my hands up in the air and the audience saw that I was handcuffed! The audience roared in approval. Actions often speak greater than words.”
In the image, Shekhar Kapur is seen receiving the Filmfare trophy from director Subhash Ghai.
Earlier this month, Shekhar Kapur shared more details about Bandit Queen, this time centred around Manoj Bajpayee. Sharing a still of the actor from the film, he wrote, “Manoj Bajpayee as Maan Singh in Bandit Queen. While we were filming Bandit Queen in the Dholpur district of Rajasthan, we were advised to take special protection as there were still Dacoit gangs and groups active in the area Manoj was playing Maan Singh, who was still at large. Still active, and we heard he was operating in the area we were filming in. One night the real Maan Sing slipped into our sets at night and wanted to meet the man playing him. Apparently, the real Maan Singh and Manoj got drunk together and what actually passed between them … only Manoj can tell you … But what an adventure, what an experience for an actor, playing a real live dacoit being hunted by the police being confronted by the dacoit himself…And by the way, Bandit Queen was Manoj Bajpayee's first film .. and how he has become one of the best actors we have on screen today."
Shekhar Kapur's most recent work was the 2022 film What's Love Got to Do with It?