Amazon Prime Video Responds to Shekhar Kapur's 'Bandit Queen’ Editing Claims

Shekhar Kapur sparked online debate after he claimed that streaming platform Amazon Prime Video had significantly altered his 1994 film Bandit Queen. A spokesperson for Amazon Prime Video has now responded to the allegations, stating that the version of the film available on their platform is the same one provided by the film's distributors.

According to Hindustan Times, a spokesperson for Amazon Prime Video addressed the claims made by Shekhar Kapur.

Prime Video has not made any edits to the version of the film Bandit Queen currently streaming on the service. The version available on Prime Video is the version provided by the film's distributor, NH Studioz

- Spokesperson

Earlier this month, Shekhar Kapur took to X to rave about Netflix's series Adolescence, calling it a "truly great series" that redefines the boundaries of storytelling. He praised the series for defying traditional narrative structures, saying it "plunges one deeply into the characters' minds" and encourages viewers to reflect upon them. "It's next-level story telling. Watch it," he wrote.

In response to this, filmmaker Sudhir Mishra suggested that such bold storytelling would never be permitted in India. "Nobody will let us do something like that. One should do it as an independent film. Something of our own which is wanders, then stops, digs and goes where the smell takes us," he said.

Shekhar Kapur expressed his disappointment over the version of Bandit Queen available on the streaming platform, suggesting that it had been significantly altered from his original vision.

He wrote, "I wonder @IAmSudhirMishra if OTT platforms would let me make #BanditQueen the way I made it years ago. The Bandit Queen on #AmazonPrime is unrecognisable from my film. Someone has cut it beyond recognition. And yet it carries my name as Director. And no one asked me! Are we lesser beings than Western Directors? Would they have the guts to cut a Chris Nolan film without his permission?"

Meanwhile, Kunal Kohli also weighed in on the controversy, expressing his shock that the film had been edited without the filmmaker's permission. Bandit Queen was release in 1994 and it starred Seema Biswas in the lead role.