Mumbai: Breaking his silence on the controversy around his film 'Simran', whose writer Apurva Israni has accused him of assigning credit to Kangana for writing the entire story of the film, filmmaker Hansal Mehta has defended his decision of crediting Kangana with the film's story. In a statement on social media, Hansal, who has directed 'Simran', asked Apurva not to harm his film in a bid to seek attention. 'Yes I am guilty. Guilty of crediting individuals who contribute to making my films very special to many of us.
And, yes, I will be guilty not just once more but a thousand times over. Call me names, as many names as you want. But in your desperation to seek attention and gain sympathy do not try to harm my film', he said.
Hansal said he did not owe an explanation to anyone except for those colleagues 'who work with love, respect and are genuine stakeholders in our efforts to make films'. To those questioning his silence in the controversy, Hansal said, 'if I chose to not speak, it is only for my film.And, when I do speak, it will only be for the service of my film- not driven by blackmail or any noise on social media where dignity is perceived as weakness and conversation is replaced by allegation.
'Charging his detractors of trying to jump the gun just to be relevant, Hansal said ,'go get a life. Do some work that you can genuinely own.Endure the pain that comes with making an entire film and make that journey on your own.Then, go give yourself all the credits in the world.' The controversy broke out after the release of the first poster of the movie recently where Kangana was credited as the ‘additional story and dialogue writer’ ahead of Apurva’s ‘story, screenplay and dialogue’.
Apurva took to Facebook where he debunked actress Kangana’s claim of converting the movie from “One line screenplay to a full-fledged story”.In a series of tweets, Apurva disclosed that “All I could do was fight for my credit to remain in the film, and I did that! If that had been tampered with I would go to the association (Film Writers’ Association).” In another tweet, he said, “And yes, I am guilty of signing a contract that only protects the producer, because in this case, I believed the producer to be my friend.
”He slammed his frequent collaborator Hansal, with whom he has worked on critically-acclaimed films like Citylights and Aligarh for assigning credit to Kangana for writing the entire story of the film. Criticising Hansal, he posted, “I also wish that my dear friend Hansal shows some spine and either refutes or endorses my story.” 'Simran' is slated to release on September 15, worldwide. (UNI)