Abhishek Banerjee is all set to bring back one of his most remembered characters as Compounder in Mirzapur: The Movie. Ahead of the film's release, Abhishek spoke about one of the biggest talking points around Mirzapur – its heavy violence and strong language.
The franchise has often faced criticism for showing brutal scenes. Some viewers claim such content may encourage violence. Abhishek has a different view. He believes films do not create violence but show what already exists in society.
He also pointed to films such as Sholay, Animal and Dhurandhar, which faced similar discussions around violence. According to him, Mirzapur tells a fictional story with fictional characters and viewers are capable of understanding the difference between what they watch and real life.
Speaking with The Free Press Journal, Abhishek Banerjee said, “Critics said the same thing for Sholay, Animal and Dhurandhar. Whenever there is violence on screen, it will happen. But the reality is that whatever we see on screen, is an inspiration from life. And trust me, a lot more gruesome violence is happening on the streets.”
“This is just a depiction of a fictitious world, fictitious characters. And as I said, that's supposed to be for fun. And audiences are smart enough to learn what they want to. It's completely subjective how an audience watches a film. And I don't think film causes violence. It's always the other way around. It's because there's so much violence in the world. In films, we have to depict that with as much honesty as we can.”
Abhishek Banerjee said making Mirzapur: The Movie for theatres came with more restrictions than working on the OTT series. The team knew from the beginning that they wouldn't have the same freedom on the big screen. Because of this, they reduced the use of abusive words in several scenes and made changes in the content.
However, he feels that one of the biggest attractions will be seeing the familiar characters together again.
Other than Abhishek Banerjee, Mirzapur: The Movie, set to release on September 4, also stars Pankaj Tripathi, Ali Fazal, Divyenndu, Jitendra Kumar and Ravi Kishan.
