‘Anurag Kashyap was a drunkard who palmed off work to Vikram Motwane’: Vivek Agnihotri says it became difficult to deal with filmmaker

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He continued, “Gradually, he palmed off all the work to Vikram. But they had a different vision for the film, which didn’t match with mine. Ultimately, we were at loggerheads. The production house had a word with Anurag… He became difficult to handle, because only an alcoholic knows what an alcoholic goes through. It became a very big problem. We’ve worked closely, and we are cordial whenever we’ve met. But yes, he has said certain things about me on social media.”

In a past interview with Mid-Day, Motwane recalled the experience of working with Agnihotri, and said that the original script he wrote with Anurag was one of the best things he’s ever written. “So, UTV was producing the film, and Vivek had approached them with this story idea that he wanted to do about football, and they said okay. But he wanted a really good writer, so they called up Anurag, and he said, ‘Look, I know nothing about football, but this guy (Motwane) knows everything about football. So, I wrote it, and they were happy. The film got made, but not exactly in the way that Anurag and me wanted, to put it mildly. But it is what it is. At that time, it was like beggars can’t be choosers, you got paid for work. I still believe the original script of mine is one of the best things I’ve written. I loved it. I’m crazy about football, and for me, it was a big passion thing about a sport I’ve loved.”

Anurag has said in recent interviews that he no longer drinks. He said at an event in Annapurna College of Film and Media, “When I was dealing with a lot of things in the industry, I was also an alcoholic for a brief period of time. I was an addict and I went to de-addiction centre, after which I discovered new details about my writing process.”