When most filmmakers recall their early career struggles, they talk about rejection letters, financial hardship, or creative failures. But Mahesh Bhatt, one of Bollywood’s most controversial directors, recently stunned audiences with a revelation on The Pooja Bhatt Show.
According to Bhatt, in his 20s, while desperately seeking funds for a film, he visited a tantrik in Varanasi who handed him a pouch, claiming it contained human meat. The occult’s “advice”? Feed it to a prospective investor wrapped in paan, and money would follow. Bhatt and his associate allegedly did exactly that in Bihar. The investor ate it—but no funding ever came.
This shocking confession blurs the line between desperation and morality. For someone who has always branded himself a rationalist, liberal, and torchbearer of “scientific temper,” Bhatt’s casual recounting of occult cannibalism is not only grotesque but deeply unsettling. Yet, for a man whose life has been a theatre of controversies, it almost feels… unsurprising.
The disturbing pattern: Family and morality
If the human meat anecdote sounds grotesque, it’s hardly the first time Mahesh Bhatt has unsettled the public. His personal life has provided endless fodder for outrage.
- The infamous Pooja Bhatt photoshoot (1990): Bhatt and his then-18-year-old daughter appeared on the cover of Stardust magazine in a lip-kiss. The image sparked national uproar, with critics calling it incestuous and exploitative. Some reports even claimed Bhatt once said that if Pooja weren’t his daughter, he’d marry her.
- Confessing affairs to his daughter before his wife: In a recent podcast conversation, Pooja Bhatt revealed that her father confided in her about his relationship with Soni Razdan before sharing it with her mother, Kiran. Later, Bhatt married Razdan while still entangled in his first marriage—another example of his chaotic family ethics.
Such episodes have painted Bhatt as a man who repeatedly blurs lines of intimacy, ethics, and propriety, often justifying them as “bold honesty.”
RSS conspiracy and national security
Bhatt’s controversies extend far beyond the personal front. In 2008, after the horrific 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, a book titled 26/11: RSS ki Saazish? was launched by journalist Aziz Burney. The shocking claim? The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) orchestrated the attacks. Standing alongside Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, Mahesh Bhatt lent credibility to the book by endorsing its release.
For a nation in mourning, Bhatt’s association with such narratives wasn’t just tone-deaf—it looked like complicity in weaponising tragedy for political propaganda. The theory was later discredited, but the damage was done: Bhatt had helped mainstream the “saffron terror” narrative.
Links to Headley and Pakistan sympathies
The controversies didn’t stop there:
- Rahul Bhatt, Mahesh’s son, was linked to David Headley, the Lashkar-e-Taiba operative who helped plan the 26/11 attacks. Headley allegedly warned Rahul to stay away from South Mumbai before the strikes took place.
- Proximity to Zakir Naik: Bhatt has been photographed with the now-banned Islamist preacher, notorious for radical sermons.
- Defending Pakistani artists: Even after repeated terror attacks, Bhatt consistently championed Pakistani actors and singers in Bollywood, brushing off national security concerns as “jingoism.”
- Flirting with Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Akhtar’s Bollywood debut: Bhatt even considered casting the controversial fast bowler in his film Gangster.
A life that feeds on scandal
From feeding alleged human flesh to an investor, to blurring parental boundaries with his daughter, to giving political cover to conspiracy theories against India’s security forces—Mahesh Bhatt’s life reads less like that of a filmmaker and more like a catalogue of scandals.
Even in the #MeToo era, Bhatt found himself on the wrong side of history, accused of defending names like Anu Malik.
Conclusion: The man and the shadow
Mahesh Bhatt may have directed acclaimed films like Saaransh and Arth, but his legacy is overshadowed by his endless controversies. His recent “human meat” confession only reinforces what many believe: that Bhatt thrives in the unsettling, the outrageous, and the scandalous.
For some, he is a fearless truth-teller. For others, he is a manipulative opportunist who hides behind the mask of liberalism. But one thing is undeniable: in Indian cinema, few figures embody controversy quite like Mahesh Bhatt.
