Bollywood filmmakers Karan Johar and Madhur Bhandarkar have gone head to head over the title 'The Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives’, the name of the new Netflix series which premieres on November 27.
Johar penned a letter to Bhandarkar justifying the title of the new series, based on the lives of four star wives from the Indian film industry. The star wives featured in the show include 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, herself a former Bollywood actress.
Bhandarkar, the filmmaker behind films such as ‘Fashion’ and ‘Heroine’, had accused Johar’s Dharma Production of allegedly misappropriating the title 'Bollywood Wives' that is registered with him.
The 'Kuch Kuch Hota Hai' director began his placatory note by writing about the "relationship" that the two filmmakers have had as a part of the "close-knit" film industry.
"Dear Madhur, Our relationship goes back a long way and we have both been a part of this close-knit industry for many, many years. Through all these years. I have been an ardent admirer of your work and I have always wished the best for you," the note reads.
The 48-year-old filmmaker then sheds some light on the "new and different title" that he has chosen for the new series.
"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," Johar wrote.
"I did not foresee it upsetting you as it has and for that I duly apologise," he adds.
The 'Student of The Year,' director then shared that he and his team have been using the hashtag of 'Fabulous Lives,' on social media as it is the franchise title that they have decided to go ahead with.
Johar then assured his fellow filmmaker that the "format, nature, audience and title" of his series is very different from Bhandarkar's work and will not exploit his work.
He said: “I hope we can move away and onward from this and continue to make exceptionally good content for our audiences. I wish you the very best for all your endeavours and look forward to watching your work.”
The social media note comes almost a week after Bhandarkar had claimed that Johar had tweaked the title of his upcoming project 'Bollywood Wives' after he refused to give him the name.
(ANI)