Tigmanshu Dhulia said Mirzapur exaggeratedly shows the Hindi heartland.
He said Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are different, with varied regions within each state.
Dhulia said location is a major character in his films and cited American movies as an influence.
Filmmaker Tigmanshu Dhulia said stories from the Hindi heartland are often filtered through shows like Mirzapur. He was discussing his latest directorial, Ghamasaan, which centres on a dacoit and an IPS officer, and said he likes to give locations the weight of a character in his films.
Why Tigmanshu Dhulia criticised Mirzapur
“The Hindi heartland is not just one location. Uttar Pradesh is different from Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. Even there, there are different regions. Location is a huge character in my films. I like doing that because I am inspired by American movies,” Dhulia told Zoom.
He was sharper about Mirzapur. “I can’t speak about Mirzapur because whatever was shown was heavily exaggerated; whatever was shown doesn’t really happen. Katte ban rahe hain, arms ban rahe hain, aise nahi bante hain. Complete lawlessness joh dikhayi hai, voh bhi nahi hoti hai aise (They’re making weapons, they’re making arms — that’s not how it’s done. The kind of complete lawlessness that has been shown isn’t like this either). Gangs of Wasseypur was closer,” Dhulia added.
About Ghamasaan
Piiyush Singh and Ram Yash Singh wrote Ghamasaan, and Dhulia directed it. The crime drama centres around dacoit Dadua and features Pratik Gandhi, Arshad Warsi, Rajpal Yadav and Ishita Dutta. It was first screened at MAMI Mumbai Film Festival, then at Cinevesture International Film Festival in Chandigarh, before screening at the 16th Chicago South Asian Film Festival. ZEE5 released it on September 11, 2026, and it opened to mixed reviews.
About Mirzapur series
Mirzapur is a Hindi-language crime thriller series created by Karan Anshuman and Puneet Krishna for Amazon Prime Video. The story is set in the fictional Purvanchal town of Mirzapur, ruled by the Tripathi family.
Pankaj Tripathi, Ali Fazal, Divyenndu, Rasika Dugal and Shweta Tripathi Sharma, among others, were part of the ensemble cast.
Mirzapur: The Movie, which was released on September 4, has earned over ₹300 crore worldwide in 17 days.
