Madhur Bhandarkar has ‘accepted’ Karan Johar’s apology over tweaking and using a show title already registered by the Fashion filmmaker. While Madhur had registered the title ‘Bollywood Wives’, the name of Karan’s production house, Dharma Productions’ new Netflix show is The Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives. Madhur has said that he was left deeply upset when Karan used the title despite him having made it clear that he would not part with it.
Madhur shared a note in response to Karan’s open letter on Twitter on Thursday. He wrote, “Dear @KaranJohar. Thank you for your response. This is indeed a close-knit industry and it operates on mutual trust and respect. When we blatantly disregard norms that we ourselves have established, then it makes very little sense calling ourselves a ‘fraternity’.”
Dear @karanjohar ? https://t.co/uNHu4cq8KQ pic.twitter.com/iE9gbQnUpI
— Madhur Bhandarkar (@imbhandarkar) November 26, 2020
Showing his disappointment over the latest episode, Madhur said, “I didn’t hesistate a moment in the past before granting you the title “GUTKA” in 2013, that you had requested from me, and hence I would have expected the same courtesy in return when I declined you the use of a title I had duly registered, and which I did not intend to part with. The fact that you went ahead and used the title anyway despite our conversation and despite it also having been rejected by the trade associations, is what had upset me deeply. This is not how I believe real relationships work. But let’s move forward. I accept your apology and would like to leave things here. I too wish you well in your future endeavours.”
Karan had said in his defence, “I humbly apologise for any grievance that has been caused to you during the course of the last few weeks. However, I would want to clarify that we have chosen this new and different title -The Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives keeping in mind the non-fiction format of our reality-based franchise series. As our title was distine, I did not foresee it upsetting you as it has and for that I duly apologise.”
He added, “I want to inform you that we have been promoting our series with the hashtag “Fabulous Lives” on all social media platforms, which is the franchise title we intend to go ahead with. We assure you that the format, nature, audience and the title of our series are different and would not in any manner dent or encumber the exploitation of your work.”
The Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives will premiere on Netflix on November 27. It is based on the “fabulous lives” of four star wives featuring Sohail Khan’s wife Seema Khan, Sanjay Kapoor’s wife Maheep Kapoor, Chunky Pandey’s wife Bhavana Pandey, and Samir Soni’s wife Neelam Kothari.
Source: Hindustan Times
