Javed Akhtar On Mr India 2: “Shekhar Kapur Is Offended Because No One Consulted Him, Why Should They?”

There has been a lot of hue and cry around the recently announced Mr India trilogy by Ali Abbas Zafar. While there are speculations about Ranveer Singh or Shah Rukh Khan playing the iconic Mr India character, the film’s original director Shekhar Kapur is mighty miffed with this decision. But Javed Akhtar, the film’s original writer does not seem to understand Kapur’s reaction.

Lashing out at Kapur, Javed Akhtar said that he does not understand Kapur’s demand of wanting the makers to take approval from him. A report in Asian Age has quoted Akhtar saying, “Today Shekhar Kapur is offended because no one has consulted him about this new project. Why should they? They may or may not be morally bound to inform the people involved with the original film, but they are not legally bound to do so. And where was his sense of creative outrage when he had disregarded the bound script of Mr India that we had given to producer Boney Kapoor and Shekhar? Shekhar chose to do his own thing back then. Today, when other people are doing the same, he is upset?”

For those who have joined in late, Shekhar had taken to his Twitter account after the announcement of the Mr India trilogy and wrote, “No one has even asked me or mentioned to me about this film called Mr India 2. I can only guess that they using the title to get a big weekend. For they cannot use the characters/story without permission from the original creators of the film.”

While Shekar has in an interview years ago rebuked the idea of a sequel to the iconic Anil Kapoor, Sridevi and Amrish Puri starrer, Akhtar has no such reservations. The veteran scriptwriter has however made it clear that he would not like to comment on the developments of the film as no one has approached him yet.

Javed Akhtar, from the famed Javed-Salim writer duo, concluded saying, “I can’t say what they’ve in mind. They haven’t approached me or asked for my opinion. Until I know what they plan to do with the characters I can’t comment on it.” And as far as Kapur’s comment of it being impossible to recreate the characters played by Amrish Puri and Sridevi, Akhtar said, “That’s not so impossible. Every James Bond film has its own heroine and villain. As I said, it all depends on what they do with the character.”

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