Subhash K Jha (DNA; August 25, 2015)

Rumours of a remake of Mahesh Bhatt’s 1991 romantic musical Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin (DHKMN) have been doing the rounds. Pooja Bhatt refutes the speculation, “Mahesh Bhatt directed DHKMN. He cannot be replaced. And there’s no way anyone else will direct a remake. This whole speculation about a remake snowballed after I was asked by someone, if DHKMN was remade whom would you like to see playing Aamir Khan and Pooja Bhatt. I replied, ‘Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt.’ That’s all there is to it.”

However, there is more to this than just that. A well-informed ex-groupie from the Bhatt camp says, “They are now in denial about the DHKMN remake. But it was a reality two years ago. Mohit Suri was going to direct the remake. Emraan Hashmi had been finalised to play Aamir Khan’s role. But then everyone suddenly woke up to the reality that DHKMN was a scene-by-scene adaptation of Frank Capra’s It Happened One Night. When DHKMN was made 24 years ago, laws about copyright infringement were very vague. Bollywood directors would happily rip off every film from Hollywood they could lay their eyes on. Now you can’t get away with it. If you are caught copying, there’s hell to pay.” Mahesh Bhatt has the last word on the supposed remake. “The stories doing the rounds of the media are pure fiction.”