Filmmaker Tigmanshu Dhulia recently opened up about the difficult circumstances he encountered while shooting his debut film ‘Haasil’ in his hometown Allahabad, now known as Prayagraj. The director said the film’s portrayal of campus politics sparked outrage among local political figures, eventually prompting him to seek help from Jaya Bachchan. Released in 2003, Haasil received widespread critical appreciation for its raw and realistic depiction of student politics in Uttar Pradesh. The film featured memorable performances by Irrfan Khan, Ashutosh Rana and Jimmy Shergill, and went on to become a defining moment in Dhulia’s career.
Dhulia recalled that the controversy began almost immediately after filming the opening sequence, which introduced Ashutosh Rana’s character. “When I was shooting Haasil in Allahabad, the very first scene we shot was Ashutosh Rana’s entry. In the film he plays the university president,” Dhulia said. “In a story, if there is Ram there must also be Ravan. Since I shot the ‘Ravan’ scene first, people felt I was portraying the university in a bad light.”
He added that some locals assumed the characters were based on real student leaders. “There used to be a student leader named Lakshmi Shankar Ojha. In the film, Ashutosh’s character was named Lakshmi Shankar Pandey, which we later changed to Gauri Shankar Pandey. Soon I got a call saying, ‘You are making a film about us.’”
The tension soon intensified, and Dhulia was eventually called to the district magistrate’s office.
“It was the first time a film shoot was happening in the city. I hadn’t yet become ‘Tigmanshu Dhulia’; it was my first film. I had gone to my hometown very excited, thinking I would shoot there,” he recalled.
But the meeting quickly turned confrontational.
“Around 20–25 former presidents of Allahabad University were present there. They surrounded me and began threatening me.” He said the threats were alarming. “They said they would break the windows of Yatri Hotel, set it on fire, blacken my face, make me sit on a donkey and parade me around the city.”
The filmmaker admitted the ordeal shook him deeply. “This was in 2001. I got scared and started crying. All my emotions came out. I had come to my own city, and I felt humiliated there,” he said.
Dhulia later called Jaya Bachchan for help and that’s when things were sorted. “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. After the controversy, the filmmakers decided to remove references to the city’s name in the film. “That’s why you won’t find the name Allahabad anywhere in Haasil,” Dhulia explained.
