The story of Ghooskhor Pandat is about a flawed individual and has nothing to do with any caste or community, actor Manoj Bajpayee and filmmaker Neeraj Pandey said on Friday, a day after the Netflix film faced backlash over its title.<\/p>\n
The film\u2019s announcement earlier this week sparked a storm on social media, with many users calling the title \u201ccasteist\u201d and offensive. The controversy has also led to the registration of an FIR at Hazratganj police station in Uttar Pradesh, while the NHRC has issued a notice to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting following a complaint.<\/p>\n
In a statement, posted on his social media handles, Pandey acknowledged that the film\u2019s title has \u201churt\u201d a section of audience and added that all promotional materials of the film will be taken down for the time being.<\/p>\n
Pandey said the film, which he has co-written and produced, is a fictional cop drama and the term Pandat is used simply as a colloquial name for a fictional character.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe story focuses on an individual\u2019s actions and choices and does not comment on or represent any caste, religion, or community. As a filmmaker, I approach my work with a deep sense of responsibility \u2014 to tell stories that are thoughtful and respectful,\u201d the filmmaker said.<\/p>\n
Bajpayee, who plays the lead in the movie, said he respects the emotions and concerns people have shared and takes them seriously.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen something you are part of causes hurt to some people, it makes you pause and listen. As an actor, I come to a film through the character and the story I am playing. For me, this was about portraying a flawed individual and his journey of self-realisation. This was not meant to be a statement about any community,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The crime thriller follows Bajpayee\u2019s Ajay Dikshit, also known as Pandat, a corrupt police officer whose plans for a lucrative and eventful night are disrupted when he finds himself caught in the middle of a global conspiracy unfolding in the heart of Delhi.<\/p>\n
The film, which was announced by Netflix during an event on Tuesday, is directed by Ritesh Shah, who has also penned the story with Pandey. It is produced by Pandey through his banner Friday Filmworks.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe understand that the title of the film has caused hurt to some viewers, and we genuinely acknowledge those feelings.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn light of these concerns, we have decided to take down all promotional materials for the time being, as we believe the film should be experienced in its entirety and understood in the context of the story we intended to tell, rather than judged on partial glimpses. I look forward to sharing the film with audiences soon,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The story of Ghooskhor Pandat is about a flawed individual and has nothing to do with any caste…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":285592,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[93,61,60,270],"class_list":{"0":"post-285591","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-movies"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=285591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285591\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/285592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=285591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=285591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=285591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}