EXCLUSIVE: Ritesh Sidhwani on why gangster dramas like Bambai Meri Jaan draw attention: “It’s a proven fact that this genre tracks really well and it identifies”

In an exclusive conversation with Bollywood Hungama recently, producer Ritesh Sidhwani revealed what makes gangster dramas so intriguing.

By Bollywood Hungama News Network -

September 15, 2023 - 12:00 PM IST

Prime Video launched their crime series, Bambai Meri Jaan on September 14. It is a gangster drama and the fictional series is based on a story by S. Hussain Zaidi which was created by Rensil D’Silva and Shujaat Saudagar and directed by Saudagar. In an exclusive conversation with Bollywood Hungama recently, producer Ritesh Sidhwani revealed what makes gangster dramas so intriguing.

EXCLUSIVE: Ritesh Sidhwani on why gangster dramas like Bambai Meri Jaan draw attention: “It’s a proven fact that this genre tracks really well and it identifies”

Talking about Bambai Meri Jaan, Sidhwani said, “It’s a proven fact that this genre tracks really well and it identifies. Now, you are obviously greedy as a filmmaker that you want to appeal to the largest audience. So, if you're doing that genre, then you have to do justice to it, then you might as well make sure that ‘Okay, then I have to ace the game!’ That is why I'm saying this whole thing of fictionalizing it gives you that freedom. The minute you try to make it real or base it on a biopic of some character, you'll get screwed because then at the end of the day, you're restricted within what that format is because then you can't take those cinematic liberties. So we were fortunate again like I'm just saying that for me, it was easy for Mr. Zaidi to come up with something which Rensil and Shujaat could take and leap from right and then create your own world and move on.”

Citing an example of Don and how Farhan Akhtar added the twist to turn it into a franchise, he added, “Like I'll just give you like a very different example but we don't need to go down and ask we go questions. But, even at a certain level, Don was like this, right? When you made Part One, the first one was the good guy survives. What Farhan Akhtar did is that he changed the writing and made the hero the villain. That's what made it a franchisee. It became a character you invested in and loved and then you go on to do it. Otherwise, it was like what the original with Mr. Bachchan was and ended with the good guy. So I think you bring it. And also its times, its evolution, we evolve as human beings, society is evolving, content is evolving. So it's going with that, but this genre will always be attractive to people.”

Produced by Excel Media and Entertainment’s Ritesh Sidhwani, Kassim Jagmagia and Farhan Akhtar, it features Kay Kay Menon, Avinash Tiwary, Kritika Kamra, and Nivedita Bhattacharya along with Amyra Dastur in pivotal roles. The 10-part series premiered on Prime Video on 14^th September.