Feb 18, 2026 1:05pm IST
‘Bandwaale’ Creator, Actor Swanand Kirkire, on Death of Multi-Genre Storytelling in Bollywood After the Pandemic (EXCLUSIVE)
“Bandwaale” on Prime Video stars Swanand Kirkire, Zahan Kapoor and Shalini Pandey in lead roles. Swanand Kirkire, one of the most multi-faceted talents in Bollywood, tells us, “I enjoy every role actually. Everything needs a different kind of faculty and skill. But in acting, you have to be present in front of the camera. Acting exposes you in front of many people. I respect actors as it is way tougher to go out there and be in front of the camera.”
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He shares that “Bandwaale” was two to three years in the making. The series also stars Zahan Kapoor, who made an impressive OTT debut with the Netflix series “Black Warrant.” Kirkire is full of praise for his younger co-star. He tells us, “Zahan is a brilliant actor and a lovely guy. His first play was with Makrand Deshpande, and I was also associated with it. I am glad to see his success and the actor he has become. It is a very proud feeling.”
The lockdown gave birth to the boom of streaming platforms in India, but cinema buffs are complaining about the death of multi-genre films in India. Kirkire opines, “Yes, that is true. We saw diverse kinds of movies at the theaters earlier, but that is not the case now. At the same time, streaming platforms became the hub for small-town stories. As a creative person, you do what you want to do irrespective of whether people will buy it or not.” Kirkire says that everything is cyclic in the entertainment industry. “Whether it is the Hindi film industry or some regional industry, you can survive only if you are useful,” he signs off.
Talking about Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Chittaranjan Tripathy, his classmates at NSD, Kirkire says they were surprised to see him as an actor. "My plan was to become a filmmaker. When they saw me acting, they were initially very amused. We laughed a lot about it. But they are, more or less, appreciative of my skills (laughs)."
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