Badhaai Ho story writer Jyoti Kapoor slams Filmfare Awards

Badhaai Ho

Only a day after being nominated for Best Story at Filmfare Awards, writer Jyoti Kapoor was in for a rude shock. While she was credited along with Shantanu Srivastava and Akshat Ghildial for writing the Ayushmann Khurrana starrer Badhaai Ho, her name was unceremoniously dropped from the list of nominees yesterday.

Speaking to mid-day, Kapoor says she is unable to understand what prompted the award organisers to drop her name, while Srivastava and Ghildial remained on the list: "My name was included in the nominees' list on Wednesday morning, until it magically disappeared. I wrote to [the producers] Priti Shahani [president, Junglee Pictures], and Vineet Jain [MD, Times Group] requesting them to reinstate my name. But clearly, nothing has been done about it."

Jyoti Kapoor

Shahani, on her part, tells mid-day that while Kapoor had worked with Junglee Pictures on the story initially, her contract got terminated in 2016: "The agreement in the contract mentioned that if we use any part of her story or character, we will give her credit. However, it was never used. We decided to go forward with the story developed by Shantanu and Akshat. They have had the concept since 2012, and had been working independently on the same premise, with [director] Amit [Ravindernath Sharma]."

Question her why Kapoor's name was included in the film's official credit roll, if her story wasn't used, she says, "If you see the film, the story-credit has been divided between Shantanu and Akshat. Her name doesn't appear with my writers' names. She has been credited separately, in good faith. Badhaai Ho has nothing that was developed by Jyoti. It would be unfair to other writers if she wins laurels for what they essentially created."

Insisting that the premise of the film (Parents of adult children become pregnant creating a crisis in the family) came from her (duly registered) Spec Story called 'Hum Do Hamaare Chaar' on the basis of which Junglee hired her to write a screenplay, Kapoor says, "I was hired a year before any other writer was brought on board. I am taking legal advice. Junglee Pictures have admitted in the theatrical credits that I am one of the story-writers. They can say whatever they want now, but legally speaking, you cannot retrospectively not be the writer, after the film has already released. Nobody in this industry gives credit in good faith. A premise is essentially the foundation of a story. How can they say they never used anything?"

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