One must be living under the rocks if the controversy over the reboot of Shekhar Kapur directed Mr. India hasn't flashed on social media platforms. The film starring Anil Kapoor and late Sridevi is the current talk of the town ever since Ali Abbas Zafar announced to make it with a new cast and modified plotline. Shekhar, soon after, raised objection over borrowing the title and conceptualising a reboot without seeking permission from him. While Shekhar is planning to seek legal assistance to claim over the creative rights that a director has, Javed Akhtar, who had penned the story of Mr.India has a contrast viewpoint and belief.
Shekhar, who has been actively tweeting his opinions and points quite frequently, yet again made a statement clearing his stand that he is bothered over the fact that the makers of Mr.India 2 didn't seek his permission before taking a step ahead. Javed sahab, moments later, commented on the same post by saying none of the scenes, story, characters and other creative aspects belonged to him as he was the one to bring the dream to life. He further stated that he gave the film to him.
The argument on a remake of #MrIndia is not that no one took permission from me or even bothered to tell me.
The question is. If you are remaking a feature film, based on a director’s very successful work, does the Director have no creative rights over what he/she created?
— Shekhar Kapur (@shekharkapur) February 27, 2020
Shekhar saheb the story the situations the scenes the characters the dialogue the lyrics even the title none of these were yours .I gave it all to you . Yes you execute it very well but how can your claim on the film be more than mine . It wasn’t you idea . It wasn’t your dream
— Javed Akhtar (@Javedakhtarjadu) February 28, 2020
Speaking of Mr.India reboot's controversy, Anil's daughter Sonam Kapoor Ahuja also conveyed his disappointment with respect to the announcement and went on to say that her father had no clue about the film being remade. However, a few days later, she cleared that Anil was aware of it but was 'very confused about how it was announced'.
Ali, on February 18, shared the news of Mr. India 2 on Twitter. "Excited to partner with @ZeeStudios_for an epic trilogy #MrIndia! It is a huge responsibility to carry forward an iconic character loved by everyone. Currently, working on the script, no actor has been locked till now. Once we lock the first draft of the script, casting begins!," Ali wrote.
Excited to partner with @ZeeStudios_ for an epic trilogy #MrIndia! It is a huge responsibility to carry forward an iconic character loved by everyone. Currently, working on the script, no actor has been locked till now. Once we lock the first draft of the script, casting begins!
— ali abbas zafar (@aliabbaszafar) February 17, 2020
Mr. India 2, according to PeepingMoon sources, Ranveer Singh has been finalised to play the role of Arun (Anil) while Shah Rukh Khan is the new-age Mogambo. The original film released on May 25, 1987. Starring Anil as Arun Verma aka Mr. India, late Sridevi played the role of Seema, late Amrish Puri was Mogambo and Satish Kaushik was Calendar. The film revolved around a bunch of orphan children who find shelter at Arun's residence. However, after the death of one of the children, Arun pledges to fight back the evil with the help of his father's invention, an invisibility watch.
(Source: Twitter)
