Apurva ‘dis-credits’ Kangana Ranaut

The new poster of Simran credits Kangana Ranaut as the ‘additional story and dialogue writer’ and this has not gone down well with Apurva Asrani, the writer of the film. 

Asrani features as “story, screenplay and dialogue writer” in the poster but his credit appears after Kangana. Not only was Apruva not taken into confidence before having to share the credit with Kangana, the actress was also given the ‘additional’ credit over Apurva’s on the poster, which comes as a surprise and is being called out on social media.

Apurva took to Faceebok on Wednesday and expressed his feelings in length. He wrote, “I have always supported Kangana in her fight against the system. Being a self-made person myself, and having experienced being an outsider at some point, I applaud her courage and her determination to fight a good fight. I know there seems to be a discrepancy regarding credits. Many of you have outraged against her ‘additional dialogue & story’ credit appearing before mine on the poster, and I am thankful to you for your support.”

He further wrote, “While it is demeaning for any writer’s name to be pushed after an additional writing credit, I want to bring to your attention that it’s not the ‘credits’ that irk me so much. There is something bigger that I noticed, something that I cannot make sense of.

Ms Ranaut has been claiming in several interviews that Hansal Mehta, the director of Simran, approached her with just a one line screenplay of the film. She says that the story was dark and gritty thriller at that stage and that she herself developed it into a light, fun film.

This completely discredits me and my efforts, and I have to call out this lie at the cost of so many of her fans turning against me. Those who know me will know that I have always strived for the truth, and that is more important to me than a hit film.”

He adds, “I signed a contract with Hansal’s company Karma Features, developed the idea into an original story and wrote a one-line screenplay. Hansal loved it, and took me to meet Kangana. She heard the narration and jumped at it….Today not only do I see her credit before mine on the poster, but I also saw Kangana on her ‘Facebook Live’ event claiming that she had written the film (with Hansal) from a one-line he gave her. I have tried to be dignified about this for so long, but I am at a loss to understand why Kangana would snatch the hard earned work of a writer. I wish she had been graceful about this and acknowledged what I brought to this film. I also wish that my dear friend Hansal shows some spine and either refutes or endorses my story.”