01/19Kangana counters accusations of stealing writing credits and being difficult to work with

Kangana counters accusations of stealing writing credits and being difficult to work with
'Simran' writer Apurva Asrani, in a long social media post, alleged that co-producer Shailesh arm-twisted him to give Kangana Ranaut a co-writer credit for the film. He further stated that his hard work went unappreciated and that Kangana is to be blamed for the same.

With Apurva's post now raising questions, in another post by writer Sameer Gautam Singh, Singh alleged that Apurva tried to take writing credits for the National Award-winning 'Shahid', while he was onboard only as an editor. While Kangana kept mum over the controversy, in an interview with Huffington Post, she spoke about the allegations.
readmore

02/19On her collaboration with Hansal Mehta

On her collaboration with Hansal Mehta
When I was shooting for 'Tanu Weds Manu Returns' in Gurgaon in December 2014, Hansal Mehta came to me with Sarbjit. A 15-page draft. I did not like it. He told me he'll improve on it and we jointly decided to work on it. Eventually, the project never flew and someone else made it. But the idea always was to collaborate as I've been a fan of Hansal's work. I told him that if we align our sensibilities, we'll have a winner at hand. My intention was to take Hansal Mehta and bring him in a fun, slice-of-life zone. When he was in the US, he called me and mentioned a BBC documentary on a woman who took to a life of crime. He said he wanted to develop it with me in the lead. I agreed, saying let's work on this together.





















Quote Courtesy: Huffington Post
readmore

03/19On writer Apurva Asrani

On writer Apurva Asrani
Apurva was nowhere in the picture. When I asked Hansal who's writing it, he told me he usually collaborates with his editor, Apurva Asrani, and that's how he came into the picture. Hansal assured me about his credentials saying he 'almost' wrote 'Shahid' and 'Aligarh' and being a fan of these films, I agreed to come on-board.


























Quote Courtesy: Huffington Post
readmore

04/19On how she turned a dark gritty thriller script into a light-hearted comic story

On how she turned a dark gritty thriller script into a light-hearted comic story
Apurva's story was this dark thriller about a drug-addict who goes into a life of crime. It also had a lot of flavour of 'Wolf of Wall Street' with share market jargon thrown in. I made it very clear that if we're making a film with a budget of Rs 30 crores, we need to make at least 60 cr, to even break-even. With the kind of script we had, that wouldn't be possible as it'd appeal to very limited people. Hansal then told me that I was free to talk to Apurva and get the script tweaked to make it more accessible. Now let's make something very clear: actors are very money-oriented. Some actors even take money to cut ribbons at a store. I'm not dying to lend my creative ideas and writing ideas when I'm being paid to act. Actors always want to be blown away by a dazzling script. When that's not the case, you need to fix it. When I started collaborating with Apurva, I realised this isn't a writer who matches my expectations. And when I enquired about his previous writing work, I realised he hadn't done them.










































Quote Courtesy: Huffington Post
readmore

05/19On why didn't she object

On why didn't she object
Of course I did. I told Hansal that we need a team of writers and this guy cannot deliver. Yes, he did write 9 drafts but they became so many drafts because both Hansal and I shot them down.















































Quote Courtesy: Huffington Post
readmore

06/19On Apurva claiming that Kangana had loved his script

On Apurva claiming that Kangana had loved his script
I apparently jumped at those ideas because of how genius it was. Seriously? If it was so good, why oh why, would I have to do rewrites? This never ever happened. Yes, there were sessions but those were mostly me expressing my disappointment with the writing. Nobody can take away from the fact that if Simran today is a story of a divorced woman, it's entirely introduced by me. If the film has feminist undercurrents, I included that. The father-daughter track, the lover's track in the film -- these are subplots that I added. Even Apurva cannot take away from that, why should I be giving my precious time when I already have other commitments. It was a trying time also because I was shooting 'Rangoon' at that time, a very difficult film. I had to do these things because I wasn't given a team of competent writers. Later on, Hansal did a draft of his own and I could sense that he was under enormous pressure. He wanted to break away from Apurva but he couldn't. We did three drafts together and I still wasn't satisfied. I couldn't sense a spark. Finally, Hansal and I agreed that we'll fine tune this in the US (they reached there about a fortnight in advance) and I'll write the dialogues on sets.


































Quote Courtesy: Huffington Post


























readmore

07/19When asked that the changes she mentioned weren't a part of Arani's draft

When asked that the changes she mentioned weren't a part of Arani's draft
Not at all. Neither the divorcee angle, nor the love story, she wasn't even Gujarati or a housekeeper!

He saw all the changes that I made and now wants to encash on that by putting his name there. And he's been doing that in the past! Why don't you check with the original writer of 'Shahid'. This is not an isolated incident.





























































Quote Courtesy: Huffington Post
readmore

08/19On whether Apurva was kept in the loop of the changes made

On whether Apurva was kept in the loop of the changes made
I asked Hansal to inform him. I was warned not to get into it as he's a nightmare to deal with when it comes to credits. While in the US, I got into a car accident. My MRIs revealed that I had suffered some level of damage. I couldn't physically write after that. I told Hansal, 'please call Apurva as we need someone to do the writing'. Hansal didn't want to. He said if he calls him now, Apurva will lose it and not let us proceed with the shooting as the changes are significant. I didn't get into it as I thought Hansal will deal with it on his own as he shares a very long association with him. The guy who was tutoring me in Gujarati eventually wrote the lines of dialogues that I dictated. Hansal's son Jay Mehta also helped. I'll ensure both of them get credited under 'Special Thanks.'



























































Quote Courtesy: Huffington Post




























readmore

09/19When asked if Hansal Mehta felt that her contribution needed to be credited

When asked if Hansal Mehta felt that her contribution needed to be credited
Absolutely. And look, I also am a reasonable person. I don't want to steal someone's work. But at the same time, I also don't want to feel shortchanged for the additional work I have put in. Since co-writer was not an option, I settled for additional story and additional dialogue. The basic blueprint of the film was still Apurva's and he has been duly credited for that. What else does he want, I fail to understand.






























































Quote Courtesy: Huffington Post
readmore

10/19On Apurva feeling that the story is largely his work

On Apurva feeling that the story is largely his work
Do you really think I don't understand the distinction between giving suggestions and sitting and writing lines of dialogues? There's a fine line between giving direction to a script and actually, physically writing it. I did the latter. Initially, whatever happened, I don't claim credit for it. But based on what happened in the US, I very much do.

When we had the conversation about sharing credits, he lost it completely and drove everyone insane. This was when the nepotism controversy had broken and this man tells me, "Do you really need another controversy?" It was a threat. Basically, he was saying if I don't shut up, he'll go ahead and tarnish my image as a 'trouble-maker' which is exactly what he has done despite getting the credit!





















Quote Courtesy: Huffington Post
readmore