Bajpayee says Ghooskhor Pandat row affected team, led to threats, abuse

Actor Manoj Bajpayee says the huge controversy over the title of his upcoming film Ghooskhor Pandat affected the entire team for some time, while he himself faced a lot of threats.
The 57-year-old actor said the team promptly responded to the uproar over the title, which was dubbed casteist by many on social media. A new title of the film is yet to be announced.
“We didn’t expect it. But when it happened, in two day’s time we put out our apology. If anything is offending anyone with that much of intensity, we as creative people are always there to mend our ways or correct ourselves.
“I personally feel that the title change is not going to be such a huge thing, we are creative people, we can come up with ten different titles and they will be equally exciting,” the actor told PTI.
The crime thriller film, directed by Ritesh Shah and produced by filmmaker Neeraj Pandey, was announced by streaming service Netflix in February this year.
The film’s title sparked a storm on social media, with many users, politicians and organisations terming it “casteist and offensive”. The controversy also led to the registration of FIRs and a notice to Information and Broadcasting ministry from the National Human Rights Commission.
The matter had also reached the Supreme Court, where the makers informed that the title would be changed. “Were we affected? For some time. Till the time we did put out our post, we were assessing the situation without getting affected too much mentally,” he said. (PTI)