Kamal Ghorui
Bhumi Pednekar has spoken about one of the most turbulent phases of her career — the release of The Lady Killer (2023), which went on to become one of the biggest box-office disasters in Indian cinema.Made on a reported budget of Rs 45 crore, the Arjun Kapoor-Bhumi Pednekar starrer allegedly sold just 293 tickets across India on its opening day and earned less than Rs 1 lakh in its lifetime theatrical run. The film was later uploaded for free on YouTube, where curiosity and trolling pushed its views past 5 million.In an interaction with Mid-Day, Bhumi revealed that the film that reached theatres was not the one she had signed.
“What released was an incomplete film”
Opening up about the chaos surrounding the release, Bhumi said, “The script that we read was complete, but a large part of it was never filmed. What released was an incomplete film. I wish I had known better — maybe if I was a part of the system, I could have manoeuvred things differently. I was in shock. I kept wondering what was happening because nothing like this had ever happened before. Eventually, I told myself this was a learning.”She further disclosed that nearly 35 per cent of the film was never shot and that the release decision blindsided her.“We didn’t shoot about 35 percent of the film. I genuinely don’t know what happened. It’s still a mystery to me that I was suddenly told the film was being released. I was told it went over budget and stretched out too long. I don’t know where we as actors fit into that situation, because none of it happened because of us,” she said.
“I felt finished”
The actress did not shy away from admitting how deeply the episode affected her.“It was a very heartbreaking time in my life. I felt finished. I didn’t know how to recover from it,” Bhumi confessed, describing it as a dark period she is still processing.She added that the situation continues to feel unresolved in her mind.“I genuinely don’t have an answer for this. It’s still a khichdi in my head — who was responsible. I keep wondering whether I contributed to it or someone else did. But it was a decision the makers took at that time, which they felt was right. It was also a time when the industry had not fully recovered from the pandemic. It was just a mess,” she explained.
On perception versus reality
Bhumi also reflected on how public narratives are formed in the industry.“What amazes me is that people’s perception is one thing, but within the fraternity people know everything. Yet they still choose to believe the perception that’s been created. For me, this was a realisation that the only thing I have is my work as an actor. My job is to give my best to whatever content comes my way in that moment,” she said. Directed by Ajay Behl, The Lady Killer had sparked further debate after the filmmaker initially described it as being released in an “incomplete” form and said it was “no surprise” audiences found it “choppy and disjointed.” He later withdrew that remark, clarifying that the film was, in fact, a “complete” project.
