Bollywood is mean, ruthless & selfish: Madhur

Filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar shatters a few myths about the Hindi film industry in a candid interview with TOI
With your past few films, you���ve managed to merge critical acclaim with BO success. Is there a lot of pressure with your new film?
I���m extremely petrified. Chandini Bar, Page 3, Traffic Signal and Fashion worked at the box office and earned me critical acclaim as well.Now, the limelight has been turned firmly on me. Everyone is waiting to see what I deliver. And trust me, the though of it scares me every moment. But, I know for myself that I have made a very honest effort with this film and it will work.
Recently, Ashutosh Gowarikar publicly criticised the choice of Priyanka Chopra for best actor (female) in Fashion at an award ceremony.
Ashutosh and I are good friends. We���ve always appreciate each other���s works. Our wives are great friends as well. If he really had an opinion on Priyanka winning the award for Fashion I would have appreciated if he said that to me over dinner, rather than making a public spectacle of it. Priyanka is a friend and I thought that what Ashutosh did was uncalled for. I needed to defend her and I did that. And I still say that what Ashutosh said was unfair to an artist and totally uncalled for.
Your forthcoming film has been given a U/A certificate after a lot of cuts. As a film maker do you think this will dilute the essence of the film?
The scene in question is the nude one featuring Neil Nitin Mukesh. After I shot the scene, I had blurred it myself. Now the Censor Board has blurred it even further. There are talks circulating that there are seven cuts in the film. But I would like to clarify that the only thing censored in the film (apart from Neil���s nude scene) is the abusive language that the Censor Board thought was objectionable. But honestly, I don���t think it will take away anything from the film. The essence will remain; it���s a gritty film after all. I knew that this story had to be told. It was a lot of hard work to get the screenplay right and convey the emotions to the audience in an honest manner. But I want everyone to go and watch this film. That���s why I agreed to all the cuts from the Censor Board.
Do you think equations in the film industry change with every hit and flop?
Absolutely. The Hindi film industry is the most selfish, mean and ruthless place to be in. The other day my wife was very excited because I received a lot of bouquets for my birthday. But I told her that just because today lady luck is smiling on me and I have hit to my name, that people bend backwards to please me. If I wasn't making hit films, trust me, no one would have even thought of sending me a rose. When I made Trishakti, that bombed, who came to wish me for my birthday? No one. I know how the industry functions so all this does not bother me anymore.
So, will you make a film on your own fraternity?
Why not? Give me some time to lock the subject and script and I'll be ready to roll. But you know what���s funny? Any time I���m spotted somewhere, people immediately are on their guard. The other day I went to the hospital and a bunch of doctors came up to me asking if I was making a film on hospitals! The same happened when I visited a school recently. Parents thought I was doing research for a film on the education system (laughs). But now, I would like to make a romantic film or even a comedy. People know that I do a lot of research for him films, so my romantic saga will have to be different from the others.