When Apurva Asrani went after Simran actress Kangana Ranaut, he wouldn’t have thought that the controversy would blow up right in his face. Taking offense to Kangana’s ‘Additional Story & Dialogue’ credits appearing before his own for ‘Story, Screenplay & Dialogue’, Apurva detailed his contribution to the film. He also mentioned how Kangana’s claims that she had developed the story for Simran from a one-line screenplay made him feel discounted. But now, the tables have turned. Several people have come out to speak against Apurva and how his misconduct over crediting issues marred their image.
At first, people didn’t think twice before backing Apurva Asrani but then, Simran producer Shailesh R Singh stated that Asrani had allegedly signed a legal document wherein, he fully accepts the credits mentioned in the manner that they were. Singh also said that it seems Asrani is only chasing publicity by attempting to blow up the issue on social media. “We could have chatted in person before he took the issue to social media,” Singh said.
Kangana Ranaut in a poster of Simran.
Now, one Jaydeep Sarkar has challenged Apurva Asrani’s comments on Kangana Ranaut. “It is ironic that accusations of ‘credit stealing’ have been launched by the same man who usurped the limelight for ‘Shahid’ from the original writer, Sameer Gautam, with an additional writing credit, when he only edited the film and had nothing to do with the writing of it,” wrote Sarkar in a Facebook post.
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Describing Asrani’s actions as “hypocritical” Sarkar’s Facebook post went on to add, “There is a pattern in this and this is not the first time Apurva is doing this. This business of ‘public shaming’ for quick publicity, seems to be his favourite weapon!”
Apurva Asrani
Without naming the project that he had directed with Asrani working on the screenplay, Sarkar said that Asrani was miffed over media only mentioning actors’ names and not giving him proper limelight. Back then, Asrani saw it fit to detail his frustration on Facebook, as he has now, where he allegedly blamed Sarkar. “We work in an industry where our reputation is currency. To be hit where it hurts most, without any malice from my end, was a rude shock. It was the facebook equivalent of a ‘gully fight’ when he could have just picked up the phone and spoken to me about it,” Sarkar wrote. “When I did confront him, he was on the backfoot and responded by deleting the post. But the damage was done,” he added.
Earlier on Thursday, another Facebook post by Shahid writer Sameer Gautam Singh had surfaced wherein, Singh accused Asrani of jumping in to grab additional writing credits when the story had originally been written by Singh himself.
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It seems now that these new statements will help level the playing field with Apurva Asrani always utilising Facebook to narrate his grievances. While Shailesh R Singh, Jaydeep Sarkar and Sameer Gautam Singh have presented their experiences with Asrani, others like Kangana Ranaut herself have yet to pitch in on the rising controversy.
