All eyes are on Anurag Kashyap’s upcoming film Bandar (Monkey in a Cage), which stars Bobby Deol and Sanya Malhotra. The film is set to have its world premiere at the 50th Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), taking place from September 4 to 14. In an interview with Sudhir Srinivasan on his YouTube channel, Anurag shared his experience of working with Bobby and talked about the film.
What Anurag said about Bobby
During the interview, Anurag said, “A complete surrender for somebody who’s been a star for the longest period of his time, then he has seen a total lull, and then when he’s getting all kinds of big mainstream movies, he picks Bandar and says, ‘I want to do it.’ Because he’s thinking, ‘I’ve never been asked to just be vulnerable.’ He’s so vulnerable in the film, so emotionally naked. Every single scene he has performed is with such fantastic actors. Bandar is full of theatre actors, great actors from all languages, five National Award winners.”
‘There are no junior artists in the film’
He continued, “The film is a character study of Bobby’s character, but in every scene, he’s sharing the screen with some incredible actor who’s come for two, three scenes. There’s Raj B Shetty in it, there’s Riddhi Sen from Nagarkirtan in it, Saba Azad, Sanya Malhotra, Jitendra Joshi, Nagesh Bhonsle, Sukant Goel, Ankush Gedam. And there are no junior artists in the film. They’re all theatre actors, some hundred theatre actors. But he is so vulnerable and put himself through it.”
The first glimpse of Bobby’s intense look from the film was shared by the actor on Instagram with the caption: “The story that should not have been told… But is the Official Selection at the 50th Toronto International Film Festival 2025. Our film inspired from true events is premiering at #tiff50.”