Battle to survive
The Arjun Rampal-starrer Battle of Bhima Koregaon has run into the murky waters, as Arun Shinde, the former associate director and writer of the film, is battling for his due credit and payment for the services rendered on the project. The screenwriter claims he has been unfairly thrown out of the film after differences between him and the creative director Ashu Trikha erupted. Shinde, who is a vegetable vendor’s son and an outsider in the industry, has now filed a complaint with Screenwriters Association (SWA) against the producer of the film.
According to Shinde, the film’s producer and IAS officer Ramesh Thete first approached him to re-work on an old script in November last year. As Shinde worked on several drafts, he claims an agreement stating him as the associate director and writer was signed between him and the producer. “When I asked the producer to give me a copy of the agreement, he made excuses, and he has yet not handed over the said agreement for the film,” he says.
Shinde goes on to reveal that for the following two months he was made to rework on the script several times on the insistence of Rampal, with whom he had had several meetings at the latter’s Bandra office. After the script was finally locked, the actor roped in Trikha, his
friend and director of his first film Deewanapan, as the creative director of the project.
“Ashu did not want me in the film. He wanted to be the writer and director of the film, so he began insulting me to lower my morale,” reveals Shinde who has since plunged into depression.
After the screenwriter registered his complaint of misbehaviour by Trikha to the producer, a meeting was held between Thete, Trikha, and Rampal in a hotel, in which Shinde was left waiting in the lobby, and was not invited to be a part of. “The very next day on February 1, the entire team left for the ND studios, leaving without informing me, and started shooting the film,” remembers Shinde.
The screenwriter then complained to Screenwriters Association (SWA). “Producer Ramesh Thete replied to the committee that he is not using my script as he has hired some other writer. On June 25, a virtual meeting was held in which Ramesh Thete was present along with all the members of SWA. They have asked him to hand over the new script so that they may compare it with the script written by me,” Shinde records the progress of the case.
When we reached out to Veerey Ki Wedding’s director, he replied by saying, “I have no idea about it. I was slightly busy on an international campaign so I will find out about the matter.”