Javed Akhtar said he was "shocked to find his name" in the credits of the film 'PM Narendra Modi' (File)
The producer of the biopic on Prime Minister Narendra Modi today sought to clear the air over lyricist and poet Javed Akhtar's denial of writing songs for the film. Sandip Ssingh, one of the producers of the film, said it uses two old songs which were written by Mr Akhtar and lyricist Sameer. The songs used are 'Ishwar Allah' from the film '1947: Earth' and 'Suno Gaur Se Duniya Waalon' from 'Dus', Mr Ssingh said on Twitter.
"Thus we have given the due credits to respective lyricists Javed Sahab and Sameer Ji," Mr Ssingh said in a tweet.
Mr Akhtar had on Friday said he was "shocked to find his name" in the credits of the film 'PM Narendra Modi'. He had shared a screenshot of the trailer of the film, which credits him as one of the lyricists of the film along with censor board chief Prasoon Joshi, lyricist Sameer and others.
"Have not written any songs for it!" he said on Twitter. The tweet had racked upto 24,000 likes and more than 8,000 retweets, with wife Shabana Azmi and son Farhan Akhtar also retweeting the post.
The post elicited many different reactions on Twitter, with some voicing their support for the poet-lyricist and saying he should file for defamation against the filmmakers, while others suggested that the credited lyricist could be a different Javed Akhtar.
Activist and lawyer Prashant Bhushan supported Javed Akhtar and called the credit "defamatory".
The trailer for 'PM Narendra Modi' was launched at a multiplex in Mumbai by the film's cast and crew. The movie is scheduled to be released on April 5.
The film has Vivek Oberoi essaying the role of the Prime Minister, with seasoned biopic director Omung Kumar at the helm of the movie. He had previously directed 'Mary Kom' and 'Sarbjit'.