Anurag Kashyap Disowns Bandar, Says the Theatrical Cut Isn't His Film

Anurag Kashyap has publicly disowned Bandar, the Bobby Deol-led film currently in theatres, saying the cut that released is not his final version. He has not detailed exactly what changed, but the statement is unambiguous: the film in cinemas does not represent his intended work.

Directors disowning a theatrical cut is rare in Indian cinema and almost always signals a fight with a studio or producer over final creative control, the kind of disagreement that usually plays out privately through lawyers rather than in public statements.

For Kashyap, whose career has run through both critically adored work and openly contentious productions, the move fits a pattern of an artist willing to burn a bridge in public rather than let a compromised cut stand unchallenged. It leaves an open question for Bandar itself: whether the finished film underperforming can now be partly attributed to a director actively distancing himself from it in real time.