Richie Mehta did not want to make this film. When producers at Namah Pictures – Shareen Mantri Kedia, Kishor Arora and Kanwal Kohli – approached him with the rights to Phoolan Devi’s dictated autobiography, his first instinct was to turn them down.
Source: [Variety](https://variety.com/2026/film/festivals/richie-mehta-bandit-queen-phoolan-toronto-1236859457/)