Madhur Bhandarkar visits Ayodhya’s Ram Janmabhoomi Temple site

On his recent trip to Lucknow, filmmaker-writer Madhur Bhandarkar took a slight detour. He took time off to visit the newly-opened Ram Janmabhoomi Temple site and offered prayers at the site and the banks of the river Sarayu. The filmmaker was visiting Lucknow for a personal commitment. In the course of this trip, he also met Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath and discussed the upcoming Film City at Noida which is likely to spread across a thousand acres of land.

Talking about it, Madhur, who is among the first Bollywood celebrities to visit the temple site in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, told BT, “It’s a serene experience. There were very few people in and around the temple because of the COVID19 situation. I also visited the place following all the safety and health measures. I wanted to visit the temple site and offer prayers from the time I had seen the shilanyas (laying of the foundation stone) on TV. I did not go to Lucknow, thinking I will visit Ayodhya. But I got a chance and I didn’t miss it. It is so beautiful. I offered prayers at the banks of the Sarayu river and absorbed the positivity in the air. It was wonderful. I came back feeling very happy.”


When asked about his meeting with the UP CM and the upcoming film city, Madhur said, “The film city is being planned meticulously. This will give filmmakers another option to choose from. We have a few in the country like the Film City in Mumbai and Ramoji Rao in Hyderabad. But this one might just turn out to be bigger than the others and more technically advanced. The CM has great vision for it.”