Filmmaker and actor Tigmanshu Dhulia recently recalled an incident from the early 2000s when he faced a tense situation while shooting his film Haasil in Allahabad (now Prayagraj). The director said that veteran actor and politician Jaya Bachchan stepped in and helped resolve the matter when local student leaders threatened to publicly humiliate him.
Speaking about the episode in a recent interview, Dhulia said tensions escalated during the film’s shoot when some groups felt the story portrayed the university and student politics in a negative light. “When I was shooting Haasil in Allahabad, the very first scene we shot was Ashutosh Rana’s entry,” he recalled, explaining that the sequence led some people to believe the film was targeting real political figures.
The situation soon turned hostile. Dhulia said he was summoned to the district magistrate’s office, where several former student leaders confronted him. “They said they would break the windows of the hotel, blacken my face and make me sit on a donkey and parade me around the city,” he said. The filmmaker admitted the confrontation deeply affected him. “I was terrified and started crying. I had come to my own city, and I felt humiliated there,” he said, recalling the pressure he faced as a first-time director.
According to Dhulia, the situation eventually eased after he sought help from Jaya Bachchan. “I had to call Jaya Bachchan ji. If she hadn’t helped, it would have been a big problem. She got Amar Singh ji to intervene and the matter was settled,” he said.
Released in 2003, Haasil was one of Dhulia’s early directorial ventures and explored the complexities of student politics in Uttar Pradesh. The film featured Jimmy Shergill, Irrfan Khan and Hrishitaa Bhatt in key roles. Over the years, it has gained recognition for its gritty portrayal of campus power struggles. Dhulia later went on to direct acclaimed films such as Paan Singh Tomar and continued to work as both a filmmaker and actor across films and streaming projects.
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