Asira Tarannum (MID-DAY; November 5, 2014)

The proposed sequel to Farhan Akhtar’s Rock On!! had recently set off a controversy with Abhishek Kapoor accusing Pubali Chaudhuri of denying him credit for the script. Pubali had then approached the Film Writers’ Association claiming that the scripts was solely written by her. Now the dispute seems to have turned uglier.

A source close to the director says, “Pubali registered the script with the association and claimed that it was her solo creation. Abhishek was miffed that he wasn’t given any credit. It seems that he was the one to have conceptualised the story and Pubali fleshed it out. So, he feels that both of them deserve credit.”

The dispute settlement committee of the Film Writers’ Association has upheld Abhishek’s allegation and ruled that the script has been co- written with Pubali. “When he had a fall out with Excel Entertainment over creative differences, they approached Pubali to work on the sequel of the 2008 film. However, both Abhishek and Pubali were working on the script before he opted out of the project,” says another source.

Robin Bhatt of the dispute settlement committee informs us that Pubali, unhappy with their judgment, has now approached the Appellate Board for a re-look into the matter.

While Abhishek Kapoor chose not to comment, Pubali says, “ The case is on and I am not allowed to discuss this with the media.”