Bandit Queen Director Shekhar Kapur Recalls Receiving An Award For The Film While Being Handcuffed

Director Shekhar Kapur is seen taking the stage while handcuffed in the old photograph.  

Seema Biswas played the title role in the controversial film 'Bandit Queen'.

Source : Instagram (shekharkapur)/IMDb

New Delhi: The biopic based on Phoolan Devi's life, 'Bandit Queen', won the Filmfare Award for Best Feature Film the year it was released. Director Shekhar Kapur recently posted a photo from the event to recall the day he earned the award for his work. Interestingly, the Indian director is seen taking the stage while handcuffed in the old photograph.  

Seema Biswas played the title role in the controversial film 'Bandit Queen'. The movie also received the National Film Award for Best Hindi Feature Film. 

Sharing his picture from the 1994 Filmfare awards, Kapur wrote on Twitter, "Was asked by FilmFare not to make any political or controversial statements for my award for Bandit Queen. The ceremony was being televised on National TV. And the film was banned anyway .. I kept my promise. Didn’t say a word .. but .. that’s how I went on stage .. handcuffed."

Was asked by FilmFare not to make any political or controversial statements for my award for Bandit Queen. The ceremony was being televised on National TV. And the film was banned anyway ..

I kept my promise. Didn’t say a word .. but .. that’s how I went on stage .. handcuffed pic.twitter.com/8VBy4n23fv

— Shekhar Kapur (@shekharkapur) June 28, 2023

The director claimed that Filmfare decided to give him an award, but because the movie was banned, they wanted him to refrain from making any political or controversial statements.

Earlier, Shekhar Kapur shared another picture on Instagram while receiving the award from Subhash Ghai.

"Zoom into my wrists carefully.. you’ll see them handcuffed .. it was what I called the #BanditQueen effect. FilmFare decided to give me an award for my film Bandit Queen. But because it was banned and because there was so much controversy around the film, they made me promise I would not make any political or controversial statements .. as the awards ceremony was going out live on National TV. I kept my promise .. and didn’t say a word .. I took the award and raised my hands up in the air and the audience saw that I was handcuffed ! The audience roared in approval," the caption read.

The biopic of Phoolan Devi, a well-known felon who later entered politics, is the focus of the movie 'Bandit Queen', which stars Seema Biswas. In the movie, Phoolan's challenges as a young girl from a lower caste are brought forth. In 1983, 'Masoom', a cult masterpiece, marked Shekhar Kapur's debut as a director.