Click to play videoMumbai/ New Delhi: Raj Kumar Hirani, director of 3 Idiots, has accused writer Chetan Bhagat of “slander” and insists that the film’s makers have rights to his novel.
“I want to tell Chetan to stop this slandering, talk the truth and say ‘all is well’,” Hirani said on Saturday.
Bhagat, in his blog and in an interview to CNN-IBN has alleged, that 3 Idiots is based on his novel Five Point Someone but the film’s makers have not given him credit prominently. Bhagat claims the plot and, characters in the movie were copied from his book.
Hirani denies this. “The perception is being created in the media that we have copied the script and story of Chetan Bhagat's novel. I want to clarify that we have bought the story,” he said.
Hirani claimed Bhagat had signed a contract with the film’s makers. “He has given us the rights to modify the story. We have nowhere promised him to give a title (credit) in the beginning (of the movie). We have given him a title at the correct place. He is wrong in saying that his name is after the junior artists. His name comes after the main artists of the film.”
Hirani insists that Bhagat was clearly told that the movie would change the novel’s story. “I told him we'll have to change it a bit--a novel and film are different from each other.”
Bhagat told CNN-IBN that the makers of 3 Idiots had “negated his story. “In the film no credit is given to the story. They have negated my credit by putting their credit and saying story: Abhijat Joshi and Raj Kumar Hirani. My credit is hidden away at the back. These people are adaptors and the original story belongs to me,” he said.
Actor Aamir Khan, the lead actor in the movie, refused to comment on the controversy. “We have designated Raju Hirani as the spokesperson on this and he will answer questions related to this issue,” said Khan in Indore where he is promoting the film.
Meanwhile, the producer of 3 Idiots, Vidhu Vinod Chopra on Saturday apologised to the media for asking a journalist to shut up at a press conference held on Friday.
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