Recently, cinephiles were delighted to see that a new Anurag Kashyap film is headlined by an unexpected name. The film, titled Bandar (aka 'Monkey in a Cage'), starring Bobby Deol, premiered at the Special Presentation category in the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) conducted in September.
Written by Abhishek Banerjee and Sudip Sharma, who have collaborated on Paatal Lok, the film has an interesting array of cast members such as Sanya Malhotra, Malayalam actor Indrajith Sukumaran, Kannada actor Raj B Shetty, and Saba Azad, among others.
In a new interview with Variety, Deol shared that it was his performance in Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s Animal that led to his first-time collaboration with Kashyap. Bandar is described as a "raw prison drama."
Deol told the outlet that it has been longtime wish to work with Kashyap. “As a director, I’ve always loved his work, and he always gets something different out of every actor he works with.”
The son of legendary Indian actor Dharmendra and brother of actor Sunny Deol, Bobby recalls feeling confused initially about the merit of his performance in Animal, wondering what Kashyap and everyone else saw in his performance, the night before the first day of the Bandar shoot, and then sitting down to watch the film again to get some answers. "I still couldn’t figure it out, because obviously, as actors, you can’t figure out certain times when things change in your life and what you’ve been waiting for — that moment — happens. It’s like, surreal. It’s like a dream.”
