Saurabh Shukla's Bandit Queen story: meeting Daku Maan Singh on set
Synopsis
Saurabh Shukla spent an entire day on the Bandit Queen set near Chambal assuming a casually dressed stranger was a local village elder — only to discover, via a visibly shaken Manoj Bajpayee, that the man was Daku Maan Singh himself. The dacoit's parting gesture: a visiting card that read 'Bhootpurv Dakusamrath Mansingh.'
Key Takeaways
Saurabh Shukla shared the anecdote on The Kapil Sharma Show , recounting a day he unknowingly spent with Daku Maan Singh on the Bandit Queen set.
The shoot took place in Chambal , near Dhaulpur , under director Shekhar Kapur .
Shukla only learned the man's identity when co-star Manoj Bajpayee made a pale-faced introduction.
Maan Singh handed Shukla a visiting card reading 'Bhootpurv Dakusamrath Mansingh' — Former Dacoit Emperor Mansingh.
Bandit Queen ( 1994 ) premiered at Cannes and was India's entry for the 67th Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Language Film category.
Veteran actor Saurabh Shukla recently recounted one of the most memorable — and unexpectedly comic — encounters of his career: the day he unknowingly spent hours with Daku Maan Singh, the legendary dacoit, while filming Shekhar Kapur's Bandit Queen in the Chambal region near Dhaulpur. The story emerged during his appearance on The Kapil Sharma Show, where host Kapil Sharma prompted him to share the incident.
The Encounter on Set
Shukla recalled noticing an ordinary-looking man wandering freely on the set, seemingly at ease with the crew. 'I saw him hanging out with director Shekhar Kapur. I thought he must be the village head or something. Then I saw him with Ashok Mehta on the crane,' he said. The man's casual presence raised no immediate alarm, and Shukla assumed he was a local dignitary.
The situation grew stranger when the same individual joined the cast in their shared vehicle for the return journey after the shoot — and then walked into the rest house and lay down on one of the beds. Baffled, Shukla turned to co-star Manoj Bajpayee and asked, with a raised voice, who the man was.
Manoj Bajpayee's Stunned Reaction
What followed left Shukla momentarily speechless. 'Manoj's face turned pale,' he recounted. Bajpayee quietly introduced them: 'Didn't you meet him? Mansingh ji, this is Saurabh Shukla' — to which Maan Singh simply replied, 'Hello.' The dacoit, it turned out, had been present on set throughout the day, and no one had thought to formally introduce him to Shukla.
The encounter reached its punchline when Maan Singh produced a visiting card. Printed on it were the words: 'Bhootpurv Dakusamrath Mansingh' — roughly translating to 'Former Dacoit Emperor Mansingh.' The detail drew laughter from the audience on the show.
About Bandit Queen
Directed by Shekhar Kapur, Bandit Queen starred Seema Biswas in the title role of Phoolan Devi, alongside Nirmal Pandey, Aditya Srivastava, Gajraj Rao, Saurabh Shukla, Manoj Bajpayee, Raghuvir Yadav, Rajesh Vivek, Anirudh Agarwal, Govind Namdev, and Jeetu Shastri in pivotal roles.
The film had its world premiere in the Directors' Fortnight section of the 1994 Cannes Film Festival and was also screened at the Edinburgh Film Festival. It was selected as India's official entry for the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 67th Academy Awards, though it did not advance to the nomination stage.
Why the Anecdote Resonates
Shukla's story offers a rare behind-the-scenes glimpse into the making of one of Hindi cinema's most celebrated — and controversial — films. The fact that the real Maan Singh was present on location during the shoot underscores the unusual access Kapur secured for the production. Nearly three decades on, Bandit Queen remains a landmark in Indian parallel cinema, and Shukla's recollection adds a layer of human texture to its storied history.
Point of View
But the real story underneath it is the extraordinary access Shekhar Kapur negotiated for Bandit Queen — having the actual dacoit on location was not incidental, it was a deliberate authenticity play. That Maan Singh moved freely among the cast and crew, unrecognised by at least one lead actor, says something about how seamlessly he had transitioned from outlaw to something approaching a cultural figure. His visiting card — 'Bhootpurv Dakusamrath' — is itself a kind of self-authored mythology, the kind that Indian cinema has always found irresistible.
NationPress
4 Jul 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Daku Maan Singh and why was he on the Bandit Queen set?
Daku Maan Singh was a notorious dacoit from the Chambal region, connected to the world depicted in Bandit Queen. He was reportedly present on the shoot location near Dhaulpur, and his visiting card described him as 'Bhootpurv Dakusamrath Mansingh' — Former Dacoit Emperor Mansingh.
What did Saurabh Shukla say about meeting Maan Singh?
Shukla said he spent the entire day assuming Maan Singh was a local village elder, having seen him freely interacting with director Shekhar Kapur and cinematographer Ashok Mehta. He only discovered the man's identity when Manoj Bajpayee, visibly shaken, made the introduction.
Where was Bandit Queen filmed?
Parts of Bandit Queen were filmed in the Chambal region near Dhaulpur, a landscape closely associated with the real events the film depicts.
What is Bandit Queen and what awards recognition did it receive?
Bandit Queen (1994), directed by Shekhar Kapur and starring Seema Biswas as Phoolan Devi, premiered in the Directors' Fortnight section at the Cannes Film Festival and was screened at the Edinburgh Film Festival. It was India's official entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 67th Academy Awards, though it did not receive a nomination.
Where did Saurabh Shukla share this story?
Saurabh Shukla recounted the incident on The Kapil Sharma Show, in response to a question from host Kapil Sharma about his experience working on Bandit Queen.
