‘akhTaR CouLD have TaLkeD BefoRe TweeTiNG’

MUMBAI — Sandeep Ssingh, one of the producers of PM Narendra

Modi, says that the makers of the forthcoming film had acquired the rights of a song penned by lyricist Javed Akhtar and that is why he was given a credit. The producer also says Akhtar could have discussed it before commenting on social media.

“Javed Akhtar is one of the highly regarded poets and lyricists of our nation and I have grown up watching his films and songs. He knows all of us so, before tweeting on the matter, he could have just made a call.

“We bought the copyright of the song before using it in our film. Our music department followed the process,” Ssingh said. But did anyone contact Akhtar? “Even he could have done the same thing. He knows Vivek (Oberoi, the film’s lead actor), he knows Bhushan Kumar of T-Series. Before tweeting, he could have contacted us,” the producer replied.

According to Ssingh, “T-Series being the official music partner of our film...we have taken the songs Ishwar Allah from the film 1947: Earth and the song Suno

gaur se duniya walon from the film Dus, thus we have given the due credits to respective lyricists Javed Sahab and Sameerji”.

The film is also involved in controversy because of its trailer. Many claimed that the trailer that was shown to the media earlier this week was different from what is now available on YouTube for public viewing. Are the makers trying to avoid the projection of the 2002 Gujarat riots in the film? —