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Bandit Queen Controversy: A week ago, filmmaker Shekhar Kapur expressed his frustration and disapproval over the editing of his 1994 film Bandit Queen on OTT. He claimed that cuts had been made without his consent. He publicly slammed the streaming platform for their actions and even questioned whether they would have made similar alterations to a Christopher Nolan film. Amid this controversy, the streaming platform Prime Video responded to Kapur’s allegations, stating that they had not made any edits to the film.

On Shekhar Kapur's allegation regarding the OTT version of Bandit Queen, the streaming platform Prime Video denied such claims and stated that they had not made any edits to the film, revealing that they had received this version from the film’s distributor, NH Studioz.
A Prime Video spokesperson said in a statement, "Prime Video has not made any edits to the version of the film Bandit Queen currently streaming on the service. The version available on Prime Video is the version provided by the film’s distributor, NH Studioz."

Shekhar Kapur Attacks OTT Platform for Editing Bandit Queen


After heaping praise on the Netflix miniseries Adolescence on X, Shekhar shared his disappointment over the editing of his 1994 film Bandit Queen by the OTT platform. He wrote, "I wonder @IAmSudhirMishra if OTT platforms would let me make #BanditQueen the way I made it years ago. The Bandit Queen on #AmazonPrime is unrecognizable from my film. Someone has cut it beyond recognition. And yet it carries my name as Director. And no one asked me! Are we lesser beings than Western Directors? Would they have the guts to cut a Chris Nolan film without his permission?"
After his post, several filmmakers shared their disagreement with the actions of the OTT platform. Kunal Kohli and Hansal Mehta also reacted to his post. Shekhar's post sparked a conversation among netizens as well. One user asked the filmmaker, "Why would they cut any of it? OTT doesn't even have censorship." To this, Shekhar responded, saying, "But the OTT platform cut the censored version of Bandit Queen. I’m not even sure they are legally allowed to do that. They just put out their own version of the film. That’s what’s so painful... they are not even filmmakers... just executives!"

About Bandit Queen Movie

Bandit Queen, a biographical action-adventure movie starring Seema Biswas and Manoj Bajpayee, is based on the real-life story of Phoolan Devi. The film was released in 1994 but was banned soon after it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. Facing several challenges from the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), it finally hit the cinemas two years later, in 1996. The film won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi. Seema Biswas, who played the lead role, won the Best Actress award for her performance in the film.

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