Ritesh Shah’s directorial Gajab Raat released on Netflix this Friday. When Netflix first announced it in February, its title was Ghooskhor Pandat, something that generated huge amount of online backlash, forcing the makers to withdraw all promotional material and change the title. The Manoj Bajpayee -starrer is a thriller that tells the story of one night and sees a cop with no morals trying to do the right thing. But the film wasn’t always called Gajab Raat.
As the film releases, actor Manoj Bajpayee and writer-producer Neeraj Pandey talk to Hindustan Times about the Ghooskhor Pandat controversy, and why they were unfazed by it.
“The whole episode happened when Netflix announced its slate. Gajab Raat releases eight months after the controversy that led to threats, trolling, and even court cases against the makers. But Neeraj Pandey maintains that he never felt the row would dominate the chatter around the film when it releases. We made it very clear that it is completely unrelated to whatever the chatter was. We wanted the film to be seen as it was and as we had set out to make it. That was not necessarily our time to release it. We were still in post-production,” he explained. That is how it should be. Gajab Raat also stars Divya Dutta, Saqib Saleem, Shraddha Das, and Akshay Oberoi, with Kiku Sharda and Nushrratt Bharuccha in special appearances. The film is currently streaming on Netflix.
Actor Manoj Bajpayee explains that the original title announcement took place as part of Netflix India’s 2026 slate launch, when the film was still in production. Because we moved away from that touchpoint, when asked if he was nervous about what the film would be known for, the filmmaker said, “Not really,. Contrary to what many believe, Gajab Raat was not postponed due to the controversy.
“ It was not supposed to come out on any other date but October 23, by the way,” Neeraj adds. Talking about his expectations from what the audience takes away from the film, he said, “Our focus is the film and we want people to watch it the way it is. Neeraj Pandey also said he feels the film itself has moved on from whatever happened and people understand that the controversy was just unfortunate. “It is evident from the trailer that it has nothing to do with what was perceived,” he said.
