Wanted to make a comedy, slice-of-life film, says Madhur Bhandarkar on Babli Bouncer

National award-winning director Madhur Bhandarkar is known for his films Chandni Bar (2001), Page 3 (2005), Fashion (2008), Heroine (2012), which deal with a range of intense subjects. With his next film Babli Bouncer (2022), he presents the story of a woman who struggles to achieve her dreams. 

Starring Tamannaah Bhatia in the lead role, the film tells the story of her character Babli training to be a bodybuilder and wishing to follow a different path from the traditional one laid out for women. The trailer of the film was released earlier this month. 

Talking about directing a lighter subject like this, Bhandarkar said, “I am a very humorous person in real life. It’s just that after Chandni Bar, people assumed that I love to do dark cinema. But when I got Babli Bouncer, I wanted to make a comedy, slice-of-life film. I felt I wanted to showcase a world of bouncers." 

"It’s an interesting world and how these people come from their villages. On top of that, after the first pandemic hit us so badly, I felt we really need a comedy film that people can watch with their family," he added.

Produced by Star Studios and Junglee Pictures, the film also stars Saurabh Shukla, Abhishek Bajaj and Sahil Vaid in pivotal roles. The concept, story and the screenplay are by Amit Joshi, Aradhana Debnath and Bhandarkar.

Babli Bouncer is due to be released on 23 September on Disney+ Hotstar, in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.