Mirzapur director on Jitendra Kumar replacing Vikrant Massey's Bablu: 'Gave him more agency'

Mirzapur: The Movie is enjoying a successful run at the box office, with the film's worldwide gross standing at Rs 333.29 crore on Day 27. Amid that success, director Gurmmeet Singh has opened up about one of the film's most notable creative decisions: replacing Vikrant Massey with Jitendra Kumar as Bablu Pandit.

The film revisits the characters and world introduced in the first season of the series, in which Massey played Bablu Pandit, the younger brother of Guddu Pandit. In the film, Jitendra Kumar steps into the role.

Speaking to The Indian Express's SCREEN, Singh framed the casting change as part of the creative process. "I think the beauty about a make-believe world or doing something creative and fiction is that as an artiste, one always needs to have choices, right? As creators, as actors, what's the one thing that we all desperately want? It's to have choices and to be able to make that choice. And it's a good lesson to learn that everyone needs to be able to follow what their heart is telling them to do," he said.

He added that the story was never tied to any one person. "No story, no character, no journey is bound down by anybody, right? The show will always move forward, and that's the beauty we can take forward from this, that with Jitendra coming in, it brought a new energy into the show. It also gave the film its own identity."

A Bablu with agency

According to Singh, the change let the team reimagine Bablu and give him a bigger role in the story, setting the film apart from the series.

"It gave it its own life, which is very different from the show, which is what we always wanted anyways. So it became a blessing in disguise. We were able to reimagine Bablu and give him more agency," he told The Indian Express.

He contrasted the two versions of the character: "The Bablu in the show was almost aiding his brother and was a victim, never having agency or an agenda of his own. But this Bablu is playing the game. He's the one driving the narrative."

The director said the experience was a lesson for him. "So, I think that's a great learning we've taken away, to always use your setbacks to your advantage, because that's what creativity is meant to do. Look ahead, and with the film doing as well as it has, I think it only opens up so many doors for us."