Madhur Bhandarkar’s title war with Karan Johar

Mumbai (IANS) – Director Madhur Bhandarkar has accused filmmaker Karan Johar of twisting the title of his upcoming film for an upcoming reality series the latter has produced. Bhandarkar has urged Johar to change his title.

Bhandarkar had announced “Bollywood Wives” in 2016 and the film project is under development. Johar, meanwhile, has announced a web series production, “Fabulous Lives Of Bollywood Wives”.

On Friday, Bhandarkar tweeted to say that he had already refused to part with the title to Apoorva Mehta of Karan Johar’s production house, Dharma Productions.

“Dear @karanjohar U and @apoorvamehta18 had asked me 4 the title #BollywoodWives for web, which I refused, as my project is underway. It is Morally and ethically wrong u to tweak it to #TheFabulousLivesofBollywoodWives. Pls do not dent my project. I humbly request u to change the title,” Bhandarkar tweeted.

In 2016, Bhandarkar had shared that he was planning to make a film on the lives of Bollywood wives. The National Award-winning filmmaker, known for showcasing real life issues through his films, had thanked Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar for helping him, in this context.

“A big thank you to @ritesh_sid and amp; @faroutakhtar for giving us, #BhandarkarEntertainment, the title Bollywood Wives,” Bhandarkar had posted on Twitter.

Meanwhile, Johar’s web series “Fabulous Lives Of Bollywood Wives” chronicles the lives of popular star wives such as Maheep Kapoor, Neelam Kothari, Seema Khan and Bhavana Pandey. It is backed by Johar’s Dharmatic Entertainment, the digital arm of Dharma Productions.

Bhandarkar is best known for directing films such as “Chandni Bar”, “Page 3”, “Traffic Signal” and “Fashion”. However, his last Bollywood outings, “Calendar Girls” and “Indu Sarkar”, crashed at the box office.