Bollywood filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt has revealed that early in his career, on a tantric’s advice, he and a friend fed human flesh hidden in betel leaf to a film financier , but the financier still refused to fund their movie.
MUMBAI: (UrduPoint/UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News-Oct,07, 2025) Veteran Bollywood filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt has made a startling revelation about a bizarre experience from his early career — saying that, on a tantric’s advice, he once fed human flesh mixed in a betel leaf (paan) to a potential film financier.
In a recent interview with his daughter Pooja Bhatt, Mahesh Bhatt recalled the incident while discussing the struggles he faced at the beginning of his filmmaking career.
He said that during a difficult phase when he was trying to secure funding for his films, his friend Arun Desai suggested meeting a financier in the city of Gaya, Bihar. Before meeting the financier, they were taken to visit a local guru, who turned out to be a young tantric, dancing with a bottle of rum in his hand.
Bhatt said the tantric instantly realised that he did not believe in his so-called powers but assured them that he could help. The next day, the tantric handed them a small wrapped object, saying it was human flesh collected from river ghats, and told them to feed it to the financier for success.
Following the bizarre instructions, Bhatt and his friend met the financier — a local landlord surrounded by armed guards — and on their second meeting, hid the flesh inside a paan (betel leaf) and persuaded him to eat it.
“The financier chewed the paan in front of us, and we felt relieved, thinking our money troubles were over,” Bhatt recalled. “But later, I learned that he still refused to give us any funds.”
Mahesh Bhatt described the episode as a reflection of the desperation and strange beliefs that often accompany the early struggles of artists in the film industry.
