Will not participate in the changing narratives of the controversy: Apurva Asrani

Mumbai: After the ‘Rangoon’ debacle, Kangana Ranaut is back with Hansal Mehta’s light-hearted, slice-of-life film ‘Simran’. At the trailer launch of the film, Kangana was asked to comment on the writing credit controversy she is embroiled in with the writer of the film Apurva Asrani.

On Tuesday, Kangana presented her side of the story. Talking about the film’s writer Apurva Asrani’s accusation of giving her the co-writer credit over him, the ‘Queen’ actress said, “I want to clarify that there is a lot of misconception about the entire writing credential thing. There are no dues pending, in fact, we have done exactly what he asked for. He was the one who suggested that I take the additional credits. Post that, he and I worked on schedule together. After many months, he decided to write this note when Rangoon flopped and people attacked me which I thought was in bad taste and planned and extremely deliberate. But if there is anything that we can do, we would do but there is nothing that has not been done. He has got the right due.”

Apurva, who was not present at the event, told a daily, “I will not participate in the negativity nor in the changing narratives of the Simran credit controversy. I spoke out then because news reports claimed Kangana called herself the writer of the film and the first poster awarded her a writing credit over mine. But now the error of the previous poster has been corrected and fair credits have been awarded.”

He also urged people not to provoke either of them to fight and focus on their ‘labour of love’ that is the film. “I hope that people will refrain from provoking either party to fight, and instead take joy in the fact that the trailer of our labour of love is being well received. We hope people see the joy in our film that releases in 5 weeks,” he added.

While reacting to Kangana claiming that he had worked on the schedule with her and decided to raise an objection on social media months after everything was finalised, he said, “Kangana is a very busy star and seems to have her timelines confused. But it is time to put negativity behind us and bring our baby into this world with care.”

The celebrated writer, who has films like ‘Aligarh’ and ‘Shahid’ to his credit, is in no mood to ruffle the feathers and wishes to get on with his life. “Yes, she has contributed to dialogues, and yes, the producers have done the right thing by correcting the credits on the new poster. I now have top billing as story, screenplay and dialogue writer. I am happy I have got my dues and I want to just move on.”

'Simran' is the story of a Kleptomaniac divorcee with gambling addiction and is slated to release on September 15.