Sometimes the end of the road is also the beginning of a new journey. Last year, Madhur Bhandarkar seemed to have reached the end of the road, but "Page 3" has proved all those detractors wrong.

In fact, even I sincerely believed "Chandni Bar" was a fluke success. Bhandarkar's critics certainly seemed to believe that. One of them, an avant-garde director with a penchant for pushing the envelope, had even whispered into my ear that "Chandni Bar" was ghost-directed by the man who wrote the dialogues.

Seeing the quality of his subsequent work I had kind of begun to believe that. How wrong it is to judge a creative artiste by his last work! Currently, they are busy writing off Subhash Ghai because of "Kisna". They forget this is the man who wrote and directed some of the biggest hits of our times.

No filmmaker is too small to bounce back, or too big to not falter. Madhur Bhandarkar and Subhash Ghai have proved this with their latest works.

You rub your eyes in disbelief as you watch "Page 3". Is this the same man who made the vapid "Satta" and the horrific "Aan: Men At Work"?

To say that Madhur Bhandarkar has made all his friends and loved ones proud with "Page 3" would be stating the obvious. The quality of work seen in his new film is stupendous.

I've known Madhur for years. In fact, I can never forget the date when I first got to know him -- 9/11. Yup, the twin towers in New York fell as I spoke to Madhur for the first time.

It kind of put me off. What sort of a man could bring on so much disaster on his entry into my life? Then I saw "Chandni Bar". Like most, I was simply blown away by the film's unique setting theme and individual scenes. Who can forget the aging former beer-bar dancer (Tabu) sitting with her middleman friend (Rajpal Yadav) going through her old diary of clients to collect money for her son's bail?

Later Madhur goofed up big time. I think somewhere he got carried away by the sudden spurt of success. To be fair to the man, he never changed for me. He continued to treat me with utmost affection and respect, making his mandatory hello calls even when I had obviously given up on him.

"Given up?" Madhur laughs in relief after "Page 3" and his resurrection as a creative artiste. Shabana Azmi, Aparna Sen and Konkona Sensharma have seen the film in Kolkata and are raving over the phone to Madhur. He's close to tears now.

"Why only you? All those people who believed in me after 'Chandni Bar' thought I had screwed up with my last two films. But you know only too well what all I went through during 'Aan...'."

I remember how producer Feroz Nadiadwala had humiliated and maligned Madhur, the director of his "Aan". Things had come to such a sorry pass that Nadiadwala took over the film while Madhur sat in a corner quietly watching his creation being distorted beyond recognition.

Madhur never spoke out. But I remember Mr Nadiadwala calling me up and abusing Madhur. I can't repeat all that he said. But he did say, "Bhandarkar doesn't know anything about direction."

Well, sorry Mr Nadiadwala. You've been proven wrong. I've been proven wrong. Madhur never retaliated to Nadiadwala's jibes in private or in print. He quietly -- rather not so quietly -- proceeded to make his next film.

"Page 3", with its meticulous detailing and stunning view of the uneasy, often cannibalistic, relationship between the media and show world and between the media and the human conscience is a gem. It is one of the best films in recent times.

On Sunday morning I spoke to Madhur's jubiliant wife Renu. "You know everything we've gone through in the past year. Madhur and I haven't stopped receiving congratulatory calls and messages since the film's release. I feel suffering and pain have made him a better human being and a director."

As "Page 3" gathers momentum at the box office, one question looms large. Is it a new beginning for Madhur Bhandarkar as a filmmaker or, as one of the many cynics from the industry said, "It just happened"?

The praise for the film is so widespread it scares you about Madhur's future.

"It's doing so well in every city, including Patna and Lucknow, where you'd think audiences aren't really clued in to socialites and party animals of Mumbai," Madhur says.

"Very honestly, the film has gone way beyond everyone's expectations including my own. Sure, I thought I had made a good film. I worked very hard on it. But I could've never guessed it would make such an impact. I know a lot of people had written me off. And I don't blame them. I'm not proud of the work I did before 'Page 3'. I guess 'Chandni Bar' and 'Page 3' have told me what my forte is. I'll only make the films I believe in."

At a time when standards of movie-making are rapidly declining, Bhandarkar has raised his own calibre and also given the film industry a sign of things to come.

I remember when Madhur would excitedly call to give me a progress report on "Page 3", I could barely contain my impatience.

Today, I'm impatient to see what he does next.