Highlights
- Kangana has been credited for "additional story, screenplay, dialogues"
- Can't understand "additional story," tweeted Goldie Behl
- Kangana Ranaut's Simran is scheduled to release on September 15
is already controversial, months ahead of release. The film's writer Apurva Asrani is fighting to retain his name in the credits after reportedly falling out with director Hansal Mehta over his decision to credit Kangana with 'additional story, screenplay and dialogues.' On Tuesday, Mr Asrani tweeted, "Positioning of credits is at producer/directors discretion. It reflects how much they value writers." He also tweeted, "I am guilty of signing a contract that only protects the producer, because in this case I believed the producer to be my friend." Apurva Asrani, Hansal Mehta and producer Shailesh Singh have collaborated on films like
Shahid and
Aligarh. Mr Asrani is believed to have now ended his partnership with Mr Mehta.
Apurva Asrani shared the film's poster over the weekend and wrote in the caption: "Here it is. The first look of
Simran, for which I've written 'story, screenplay and dialogue'." Filmmaker Goldie Behl and
Neerja screenwriter Saiwyn Quadras have tweeted in support of Mr Asrani.
On Tuesday, Saiwyn Quadras wrote on Twitter: "We are all with you on this. But is there any way in which you can register a stronger complaint? This will set a bad precedent." Read Apurva Asrani's replies:
Apurva Asrani and Goldie Behl had this conversation earlier:
Hansal Mehta tweeted earlier this month about giving Kangana writing credits:
Apurva Asrani spoke to
Mumbai Mirror last week, agreeing that Kangana Ranaut had earned part of the credit. "About the additional dialogue credit, Kangana totally deserves it. She improvised on many of the dialogues and did a remarkable job," he told
Mumbai Mirror. However, the extra credits for story and screenplay rankle. "There is some hurt over the way things were announced without consulting me. I didn't know that Hansal had promised Kangana part of the writing credit till I had finished the edit. By the time I got to know, the announcement had been made," Apurva Asrani told
Mumbai Mirror.
Simran, of which little is known other than the fact that Kangana Ranaut's character is named Praful Patel, releases on September 15.