‘Calendar Girls’

Five bold girls strutting in bikinis is a dream that liquor baron Vijay Mallya sold until recently through his exclusive Kingfisher calendar. Come September, the story the liquor baron’s dream girls will unfold on celluloid through Madhur Bhandarkar’s ‘Calendar Girls’.

Known for his penchant for portraying real issues on screen, Madhur Bhandarkar this time has drawn inspiration from the lives and struggles of the bikini beauties who go on to become the calendar girls. At the trailer launch of Calendar Girls held in Mumbai today (August 18), Madhur Bhandarkar told IndianExpress.com: “The movie is 75 per cent reality and 25 per cent fiction. There will be a lot of revelations made and things shown that will shock you. Finally, it is an emotional story that will find a connect with viewers.

It’s a story about hope.” While there were speculations that the movie had run into some rough weather with the censor board demanding some cuts, Madhur Bhandarkar made it clear that he was absolutely happy with the censor’s final decision. “The censor board members were very supportive and during the Revision Committe screening they told me they didn’t want to butcher the film with many cuts. There are absolutely no cuts except for an abuse that has been beeped,” added Madhur Bhandarkar.

“We have taken inspiration from a lot of people like Vijay Mallya… Who launches calendar every year. I share good relationship with him. Deepika (Padukone) who herself was a calender girl,” the ‘Fashion’ director added. The trailer of the film also shows connection between the modelling and the cricket world. On this Madhur says, “I have picked up things from newspapers… Issues that go around us. Films are reflection of society. I am not being judgemental.”