Dinesh Vijan talks about Bala, which tells about Ayushmann Khurrana’s bald story, and informs that plagiarism case against him is withdrawn. For someone who has been redefining content with films like Badlapur, Hindi Medium and Stree, it must feel like a bad dream to be accused of plagiarism by the makers of Ujda Chaman. Here are excerpts from an interview with Dinesh.
You have chosen to remain silent on the charges.
When something like this happens, a part of you wants to explain yourself. But since we were just three weeks away from release, I needed to see my film through without losing focus. It will be out this Friday and then you will know that Bala is a completely original concept. We are credible filmmakers. Forget a subject, I’ve never even signed a director working for another production house.
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How did the issue blow up?
Before we started, Luv Ranjan and Kumar ji (Mangat, producer of Ujda Chaman) approached me on the similarity in the plots of the two films. Since Kumar ji’s film was a remake of a Kannada film (Ondu Motteya Kathe) I didn’t need to listen to his subject, but I narrated mine to Luv who assured us that there was no resemblance between the two. Twenty days after we wrapped up, they went on the floors. I reiterate our film is nothing like the South film or the 2011 Hindi film Hair Is Falling or any other on the subject. More than hair loss, Bala propogates self-love. There are things we don’t like about ourselves, be it our hair, height, or complexion, yet, it’s important that we love ourselves for others to love us. That’s what our film is about and it’s Ayushmann’s (Khurrana) best performance to date. He’s known for brave choices but this one is all heart.
Why, then, did you push the release forward, from November 22 to November 8?
After Karan (Johar) called to say that his Bhoot was moving, we thought of coming with Bala on November 8. My studio partners felt that with November 11 being Guru Nanak’s birthday and a holiday, it'd give us an extended weekend and a two-week run at the box-office.
What’s the status on the plagiarism cases against you. Even Dr Zeus threatened legal action for recreating his song, “Don’t Be Shy”.
The Ujda Chaman makers have withdrawn their case and as far as the song goes, we have officially taken the rights from Kamran Entertainment, the copyright owner of the original song.
Some don’t like the fact that Bhumi Pednekar’s skin tone has been inordinately darkened on screen since she is playing a dusky girl...
Bhumi is an actor playing a character which demanded this, just like Ayushmann’s Bala needed him to sport a balding pate. The idea here is to sensitise people with respect to terms like ‘takla’ and ‘kala’, which begin as jokes in school and whose scars we carry all our life, unless we can love ourselves for who we are.
What went wrong with Arjun Patiala and Made In China?
The former, as a spoof, fell flat. I stand by Made In China’s script and its intentions. Raj (Rajkummar Rao) was outstanding. I think we faltered with the release date. If Agent Vinod taught me to be brave with Badlapur, and Raabta with Stree and Luka Chuppi, Made In China has made me realise the importance of timing a release right.
(Source: PeepingMoon)
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