Kangana in a still from Simran (Courtesy: YouTube)
Highlights
- "My efforts are discredited, I have to call out this lie," he writes
- Kangana has been given 'additional story, screenplay' credits
- Simran is directed by Hansal Mehta
The
writer of Kangana Ranaut's new film Simran has written a lengthy Facebook post about how the actress was given credits for 'additional story, screenplay and dialogue' and how it left him feeling "shocked and betrayed." Apurva Asrani, whose name appears after Kangana's in the writing credits of
Simran, has been fighting to make himself heard and dismisses Kangana's claim that she turned a single line screenplay from a 'dark, gritty thriller' into a 'fun, light film' as a 'lie.' He also alleges that
Simran director Hansal Mehta and co-producer Shailesh Singh 'tried to arm twist' him into agreeing to give Kangana Ranaut co-writing credit - Mr Asrani finally agreed to the 'additional' credit. Apurva Asrani and Hansal Mehta collaborated previously on the films
Shahid and
Aligarh.
Read Apurva Asrani's Facebook post here:
The controversy over the writing credits of
Simran has been on a slow burner ever since Hansal Mehta tweeted this:
In an interview to
Mumbai Mirror, Apurva Asrani said, "About the additional dialogue credit, Kangana totally deserves it. She improvised on many of the dialogues and did a remarkable job... 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."
On Twitter, he wrote:
After the first poster of
Simran was unveiled, Apurva Asrani shared it and wrote, "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 are supporting Mr Asrani over the falling out.
Kangana Ranaut's Simran is scheduled to release during October.