When Saurav Shukla met Daku Maan Singh
Mumbai, July 4
Seasoned actor Saurav Shukla revealed how he ended up meeting Daku Maan Singh during the shoot of their movie 'Bandit Queen'.
As he appeared on 'The Kapil Sharma Show', Sourav was asked by host Kapil Sharma, "When you worked in Bandit Queen, you also met Daku Maan Singh. What was that all about?"
Sharing the hilarious incident, Sourav Shukla was heard saying, "We were shooting in Chambal, near Dhaulpur. A normal-looking village guy was roaming around on the set. I saw him hanging out with director Shekhar Kapoor. I thought he must be the village head or something. Then I saw him with Ashok Mehta on the crane."
Saurav Shukla added that they used to all travel in a single car and as they were headed back after the shoot the same guy came and sat in the car, something which he found extremely weird.
Not just that, as they reached the rest house, the same man went and lay on the bed.
Saurav Sukhla asked his co-star Manoj Bajpayee, "Who is this man?", who has been accompanying them since the morning.
"My voice was a little high. He wasn't too far. And Manoj's face turned pale. He said, "Didn't you meet him? Mansingh ji, this is Saurabh Shukla", and Mansingh said, "Hello"."
At the end, Man Singh took out his visiting card and gave it to the visitor.
"It was written in the card, Bhootpurv Dakusamrath Mansingh."
Made under the direction of Shekhar Kapur, 'Bandit Queen' featured
Seema Biswas as the title character, along with Nirmal Pandey, Aditya Srivastava, Gajraj Rao, Saurabh Shukla, Manoj Bajpayee, Raghuvir Yadav, Rajesh Vivek, Anirudh Agarwal, Govind Namdev, and Jeetu Shastri in pivotal roles.
The film premiered in the Directors' Fortnight section of the 1994 Cannes Film Festival and was even screened at the Edinburgh Film Festival. It was also selected as India's official entry for the 'Best Foreign Language Film' at the 67th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.
— IANS
Reader Comments
Old school films like this had such raw energy - Shekhar Kapur really captured the essence of the Chambal valley. The visiting card detail is hilarious: 'Bhootpurv Daku Samrath Mansingh'. You can't make this stuff up.
It's a reminder of how close the line between fiction and reality can be in our country. That casual meeting must have given Saurabh Shukla a whole new perspective on the character he was playing. Also, Manoj Bajpayee's reaction says it all - that generation of actors had incredible respect for the source material.
The irony is incredible - a reformed dacoit literally walking onto the set of a film about dacoits and nobody recognizing him until he hands over a visiting card with his 'ex-dacoit' title. Chambal ke kisse kabhi khatam nahi hote 😂
I've read about Mansingh - he was one of the more notorious dacoits in the Chambal region before surrendering. For him to be so casually mingling with the film crew shows how much things have changed. Also, Saurabh Shukla telling this story on Kapil's show was comedy gold.
It's fascinating how Bollywood and real life intersect sometimes. 'Bandit Queen' was such a landmark film - premiered at Cannes, India's Oscar entry, and yet not many know these behind-the-scenes stories. More filmmakers should share these anecdotes. Though I wish Kapil's show asked deeper questions rather than just making it a comedy bit.
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