Anees Bazmee reveals he has ghost-written 6-7 films, reveals how Pahlaj Nihalani forced him to write Aankhen within 15 days: ‘Chhadi lekar…’

Director-screenwriter Anees Bazmee recently revealed that he was a ghostwriter for many hit films in the past. Read on to know more.

By: Entertainment Desk

New Delhi | November 14, 2024 03:59 PM IST

3 min read

Anees Bazmee revealed that he was a ghost writer for many films in the past (Photo: Anees Bazmee/Instagram)

Aneez Bazmee is currently basking in the success of his latest film Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3, starring Kartik Aaryan, Vidya Balan, and Madhuri Dixit in the lead roles. Best known directing for No Entry (2005), Welcome (2007) and Singh is Kinng (2008), Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 (2022), the director-screenwriter has also written several hit films, including Swarg (1990), Pratibandh (1990), Raja Babu (1994), and many others. However, not many know that he was also a ghostwriter (a ghostwriter is hired to write works that officially credit another person as the author) in the past.

In a conversation with The Mashable India, Anees accepted that he was a ghost writer for many movies. He said, “You are a writer for a film, you don’t get the name, but only money. I wanted money back then and I was doing whatever work I was getting. I wasn’t really busy to skip on work. Moreover, I wanted to gain experience. Even if people didn’t know I wrote a film, I would know. It was a chance for me to go to the theatres, see the audience’ reaction, so it was a great way to get that experience. I have ghost-written around 6-7 films. It gave me the confidence that I can become a writer.”

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He further added, “I can’t tell the names because it was an agreement between me and my writers. They have trusted and loved me. I can’t go out today and say, ‘Yeh badi hit film maine likhi thi (I wrote this big hit film)’, I am not that kind of a person.”

The director-writer also reveals that he wrote his film Aankhen (1993) while sitting on the sets, because of producer Pahlaj Nihalani’s pressure. “Writing is all about re-writing. I have never taken a lot of time in writing scripts. I have written most of my hit films in a single draft. In fact, a lot of times, a scene was getting shot and alongside I was writing the next sequence. Ekdum garma garam script (Fresh script coming up). I wrote Aankhen like this,” he shared.

“The producer Pahlaj Nihalani was a Hitler type person, ekdum chhadi lekar (Holding a stick). I told him that I haven’t written the film yet, but he said, ‘No, I am shooting’. I couldn’t say anything in front of him, I came on the set with the script within 15 days, with whatever I had written till then,” Anees ended.

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