Farah Khan on the controversy that her hubby Shirish Kunder’s short film has landed in
Shaheen Parkar (MID-DAY; June 29, 2016)

Farah Khan has been angry and upset ever since her hubby Shirish Kunder was accused of stealing the plot of his recently-released short film, Kriti, from Nepali filmmaker Aneel Neupane’s BOB. Yesterday, Shirish sent a legal notice to the makers of BOB for making false and defamatory allegations against him. The writer- director has demanded that Neupane tender a written apology and refrain from making any oral or written comments about the film. Kriti, which was launched on June 22 by Kangana Ranaut, received a million hits in a day. The 18-minute thriller stars Manoj Bajpayee, Radhika Apte and Neha Sharma. Farah says the allegations are uncalled for. “How can anyone say that Shirish copied another film?” she asks angrily. hitlist asked her a few questions for better clarity:

Shirish has made a film after long, but it landed in controversy.
It’s really sad. It is after a while that he made a film and people have been liking it. By now, it has got almost three million hits. He decided to seek legal recourse and does not want to say anything more about it. Now, he wants the film to do the talking.

When did Shirish start writing for Kriti?
He was working on the idea when I was shooting for Happy New Year (2014). Writing is a long process. He has so many scripts with him. He would keep bouncing off his ideas with Vishal Dadlani (music composer) and me. So, he has been working on the script for the last three years.

Alleged similarities between the plot and characterisations in both films have been drawn.
Kriti is a pschyo thriller, and there is almost always a psychiatrist in films of this genre, so you can’t say it was copied from another film.

So, was Kriti’s script leaked?
A script goes to a lot of people involved in the project — from the production house, casting agents, costume designer and actors. How is it not possible that someone stole our idea? Planning was going on for a year. The timelines do not match; their film was uploaded in May; Kriti was shot in February.

Do you think BOB’s makers are seeking mileage?
Nobody knew about their film until recently, but there is a limit to everything. Every time a film releases, someone gets up and alleges plagiarism. Any Tom, Dick and Harry cannot just cry foul and take away someone’s hard work.

What do you plan to do now?
I am waiting for this to blow over and for Kriti to get more hits. Also, my children’s schools are now closed and we will head for a vacation.