The Bollywood Hungama OTT India Fest and the India Entertainment Awards brought together industry stalwarts and fresh talent, offering a vibrant platform for discourse on the evolving landscape of digital entertainment. Held on October 3 at the Taj Lands End in Mumbai, one of the standout panels featured the team behind the critically acclaimed Netflix film, Maharaj. Junaid Khan, Shalini Pandey, and Siddharth P Malhotra, the stars of the film, shared their experiences and insights into the challenges and rewards of working in the OTT space.
Bollywood Hungama OTT India Fest 2024: Siddharth P Malhotra reveals Junaid Khan’s Maharaj monologue was trimmed from 8 minutes to 6 minutes; talks about Karsandas Mulji: “Here was the man fighting for the MeToo movement”
During the panel, Siddharth P. Malhotra expressed a sense of pride akin to that of a father when discussing Junaid Khan’s impressive performance in a six-minute monologue from the film. Malhotra revealed that the monologue was originally eight minutes long but was ultimately trimmed. He remarked, “Before his debut, he had done theatre. His theatre experience helped me a lot. The time during COVID-19, we almost read the script almost the entire year, Monday to Sunday. Shalini Pandey, Sharvari Wagh and Jaideep Ahlawat also read with us to find the balance of Maharaj to understand it. For Junaid, actually, it was an 8-minute monologue which was cut down to 6. He did it in one take and that’s pretty much eventually ended up making it into the film. It was a proud moment and a proud papa moment as everyone was clapping for him. There’s a lot happening – he is speaking to different people at different change during the scene during the monologue. The rehearsal and the hard work that he put in that has paid off in the right way.”
He also highlighted the importance of telling the story of Karsandas Mulji, a figure from the 1860s involved in a significant libel case. He added, “How many people know about Karsandas Mulji from 1860s and the libel case? We talk about women empowerment; we talk about films that are about women empowerment and the MeToo movement. But here was the man fighting for the MeToo movement and fighting to protect the rights of women. He was very progressive man in a society that believed that what he was doing was not progressive. This story had to be told.”
Set in 1862, Maharaj is based on the Maharaj Libel Case fought between a prominent religious figure and Karsandas Mulji, a journalist and social reformer, in the Supreme Court of Bombay.
The Bollywood Hungama OTT India Fest and India Entertainment Awards, in association with Cinema Waale Film and Television Productions LLP and Across Media Solutions, is to be held on the 3rd & 4th of October 2024 at Taj Lands End, Mumbai. Presented by TVS Jupiter, co-powered by Fujifilm Instax, Fima, Carlo Frattini, powered by Valvoline, alongside dating partner aisle, Stylish time partner Helios, comfort partner Frido, grooming partner Ikonic, and Lahori Zeera & Smoor, Radio partner Radio City, and celebration partner Heineken Silver.
More Pages: Maharaj Box Office Collection , Maharaj Movie Review
BOLLYWOOD NEWS – LIVE UPDATES
Catch us for latest Bollywood News, New Bollywood Movies update, Box office collection, New Movies Release , Bollywood News Hindi, Entertainment News, Bollywood Live News Today & Upcoming Movies 2024 and stay updated with latest hindi movies only on Bollywood Hungama.
