Director Gurmmeet Singh has spoken about one of the biggest changes in ‘Mirzapur: The Movie’, the casting of Jitendra Kumar as Bablu Pandit in place of Vikrant Massey. In a chat with, he explained how the decision shaped the film and the character.
Why Jitendra Kumar stepped in as Bablu Pandit
The film revisits the world and characters introduced in the first season of the series. In that season, Vikrant Massey played Bablu, the younger brother of Guddu Pandit. In the film, the role is played by Jitendra Kumar.Talking about the change, Gurmmeet Singh said, “I think the beauty about a make-believe world or doing something creative and fiction is that as an artiste, one always needs to have choices, right? As creators, as actors, what’s the one thing that we all desperately want? It’s to have choices and to be able to make that choice. And it’s a good lesson to learn that everyone needs to be able to follow what their heart is telling them to do. No story, no character, no journey is bound down by anybody, right? The show will always move forward, and that’s the beauty we can take forward from this, that with Jitendra coming in, it brought a new energy into the show. It also gave the film its own identity.”
A bigger and bolder Bablu
The director said the new casting also let the team rethink the character and give him a more important place in the story.He said, “It gave it its own life, which is very different from the show, which is what we always wanted anyways. So it became a blessing in disguise. We were able to reimagine Bablu and give him more agency. The Bablu in the show was almost aiding his brother and was a victim, never having agency or an agenda of his own. But this Bablu is playing the game. He’s the one driving the narrative.”
Turning a setback into a lesson
Gurmmeet also shared what the team learnt from the experience. “So, I think that’s a great learning we’ve taken away, to always use your setbacks to your advantage, because that’s what creativity is meant to do. Look ahead, and with the film doing as well as it has, I think it only opens up so many doors for us.”
Film continues its strong run
‘Mirzapur: The Movie’ is doing well at the box office. On Day 27, its worldwide gross stands at Rs 333.29 crore. Amid this success, Gurmmeet opened up about the creative choices behind the film and how the characters have grown over the years.