Filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt once fed human flesh to an investor on the advice of a tantrik to secure funding, he revealed in a recent interview that has sparked outrage among internet users.
During a conversation with his daughter Pooja Bhatt on the latter’s podcast, the veteran filmmaker said that he once went to Varanasi with his friend Arun Desai when he was in his 20s and met a guru.
“There was a queue of very poor people waiting to have an audience with that guruji. He was a tantrik, a young man who held a bottle of rum in his hand and would keep on dancing,” he said.
“He pulled out a piece and he made a pudiya out of it, and he said this is human flesh, which has been taken out from the ghats. He said, ‘Take this and feed it to your potential investor, and he will give you money’,” he added.
The 77-year-old director said he felt as if he had found the key to endless wealth. He further mentioned that a zamindar living in the outskirts of Gaya pitched the idea of disguising human flesh as a paan. “Then it struck us, to buy a paan and put this on a paan and give it to him,” Bhatt said.
“And slowly, he brought it close to his mouth and then, he started chewing it. We felt that we had hit the bull’s eye,” Bhatt recalled.
However, a month later, a friend told him that they were not receiving any money from the investor.
Bhatt’s confession has sparked outrage on social media. “WHAT? He realises he will get investigated for this statement right? Where did he even get it unless he murdered someone,” wrote a Reddit user.
“Papa is trying to ruin everything that Alia is trying to build. This isn’t the image she wants,” another commented.
“Not mentioned flesh is of alive human. When we cremate the dead body is supposed to be guarded as that is used for all these purposes. I am rather surprised he is making this public,” a Redditor posted.