Anurag Kashyap’s ‘Bandar’ Was Born From ‘India’s Sons’ Documentary, Says Producer Nikhil Dwivedi

Producer Nikhil Dwivedi reveals Anurag Kashyap's 'Bandar' was inspired by documentary 'India's Sons', which chronicles real accounts of men falsely accused of rape and declared innocent by the court.

Nikhil Dwivedi reveals how the documentary ‘India’s Sons’ became the creative spark behind Anurag Kashyap’s upcoming social thriller ‘Bandar’.

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Key points generated by AI, verified by newsroom

• Producer Nikhil Dwivedi revealed film Bandar's documentary inspiration.
• India's Sons documented men falsely accused of rape.
• Dwivedi, Kashyap, Sharma then conceptualized fictional film Bandar.
• Real-life accounts from documentary informed Bandar's narrative.

Producer Nikhil Dwivedi has opened up about the journey behind the making of the upcoming social thriller Bandar, and the story begins not on a film set but in front of a screen showing a documentary. Dwivedi recently shared that it was India's Sons, a 2022 documentary film on men who were falsely accused of rape, that first set the wheels in motion for what would eventually become Bandar, directed by Anurag Kashyap. The producer said he felt "immensely proud" to share that the documentary played a crucial role behind the scenes before the feature film even took shape.

India's Sons Set Story In Motion

Dwivedi was the first to watch the documentary and was deeply moved by it. He then took it to Anurag Kashyap, who sat through the entire 90-minute film in one go. Writer Sudip Sharma also watched the film, and together, the three of them went on to conceptualise Bandar. While Bandar is a work of fiction, India's Sons is rooted in reality. It features first-person accounts of men who were falsely accused of rape and went through tremendous trauma before being declared innocent by the court.

I feel immensely proud to share that my documentary film #IndiasSons played a crucial role behind the scenes in movie #Bandar coming to life

It was @Nikhil_Dwivedi who saw the film first & was immensely moved with it. I then sat with @anuragkashyap72 who saw the 90min long… pic.twitter.com/drKiwbTOde

— Deepika Narayan Bhardwaj (@DeepikaBhardwaj) June 7, 2026

Real Stories, Fictional Lens

Dwivedi made it clear that every frame of India's Sons is as real as it gets. The documentary gave the team a raw and honest look at the experiences of these men, which then informed the narrative that Kashyap and Sharma built around. The producer described the connection between the two films as something that went beyond just inspiration, calling it a story that played out behind the scenes before Bandar could come to life.