After all the brouhaha around the dissolution of Phantom, and the co-founders’ choicest words to describe the allegations against Vikas Bahl, it’s time to put words to action. Bahl, who slapped a defamation notice on his former-partners Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane, has reportedly been chucked out of his next directorial venture. Bahl has been working on Hrithik Roshan-starrer Super 30 for nearly a year now, and after the allegations came out even his leading man distanced himself from his director, saying it was ‘impossible’ to work with someone accused of such ‘grave misconduct’.
Bahl has repeatedly denied the allegations and even though the complainant decided against taking the legal recourse, reports are now suggesting that Bahl is being replaced by Kabir Khan, for whatever part of the post-production remains to be completed. Khan, who is already working on another Phantom co-production ’83 (starring Ranveer Singh), will take charge of the film that is due in January, next year.
Vikas Bahl’s behaviour was described as ‘creepy’ by his leading lady in Queen, Kangana Ranaut. Once the incident around the Phantom employee came to the fore, Ranaut spoke about the multiple times when Bahl violated her private space. A source quoted by BollywoodLife says, “Super 30 has so far shaped up into a finely-honed biopic. To leave it unfinished would be doing a disservice to the good work that Anand Kumar has been doing, and to the cause of aesthetic cinema as well.”
Super 30 is based on the life of Anand Kumar, renowned for coaching underprivileged IIT aspirants. Roshan’s ‘transformation’, replete with the fake tan and the beard, has been much talked about. Super 30 will be releasing on the same day as Kangana Ranaut’s Manikarnika, which (strangely enough) has seen a directorial shift of their own. Ranaut has apparently ordered some re-shoots, for which she will be sharing directorial credits with Krish.
