‘We definitely had to compromise’

Bollywood actor Abhishek Banerjee talks about about Mirzapur: The Movie, censorship, and more

Ria Sharma 

Abhishek Banerjee is returning as Compounder in Mirzapur: The Movie, years after his character became an integral part of the first season. In an interview with The Free Press Journal, Abhishek opened up about the franchise’s depiction of violence, criticism that it glorifies brutality, censorship and the challenge of taking an OTT property to the big screen.

While Mirzapur has built a strong following for its violence and raw language, Abhishek believes audiences understand the distinction between fiction and reality. Responding to criticism that the franchise promotes violence, he said, “Critics said the same thing for Sholay, Animal and Dhurandhar. Whenever there is violence on screen, it will happen. But the reality is that whatever we see on screen, is an inspiration from life. And trust me, a lot more gruesome violence is happening on the streets.”

He added, “This is just a depiction of a fictitious world, fictitious characters. And as I said, that’s supposed to be for fun. And audiences are smart enough to learn what they want to. It’s completely subjective how an audience watches a film. And I don’t think film causes violence. It’s always the other way around. It’s because there’s so much violence in the world. In films, we have to depict that with as much honesty as we can.”

The actor also acknowledged that moving from OTT to theatres meant negotiating a different level of censorship. “You can’t get the same freedom you have in OTT. When we started shooting the film, we all were aware of it. So, we tried to use the cuss words as little as possible in various scenes. We definitely had to compromise. But it won’t really matter when you see the film,” Abhishek stated.

Abhishek also said the film brings back the nostalgia of the original characters. “What the audience is going to love is the reunion of the characters. People are back from the dead and there’s a bouquet of fresh characters. It’s just nostalgia and fun. It has always been pure fun,” he gushed.

As the franchise makes its theatrical debut, Abhishek admits that the biggest risk remains the box office. “Box office is all about risk, no matter who the actor or director is. I think no big film can guarantee a box office hit. That is the nature of business. It’s a gamble, but a good gamble to play. Risk toh isme bhi hai ki aap sapna dekhe aur vo sapna pura naa ho. It’s okay to fail. The entire industry is trying... we are just trying to make good films,” he concluded.