‘Vivek Agnihotri fought with Vikramaditya Motwane, calling me alcoholic or drug addict is easy’: Anurag Kashyap slams ‘opportunist’ filmmakers

Also read – Anurag Kashyap’s ‘alcoholism’ made Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal suffer, claims Vivek Agnihotri: ‘I also used to drink heavily…’

In an interview with Digital Commentary, Agnihotri had accused Anurag of palming off work to Vikramaditya Motwane. “Of course I’ve interacted with Anurag. We worked together on Goal. He was writing the movie. Saif Ali Khan and Priyanka Chopra were supposed to do it, but Saif had some personal issues at the time, so he left. Then we got John and Bipasha. Anurag was a heavy drinker back then, and he couldn’t be trusted. He brought Vikram Motwane on board, who is a very talented guy. He told me, ‘Mera naya ladka hai woh kaam karega’.”

He added, “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.”

Denying Agnihotri’s claims about him, Anurag Kashyap shared a screenshot of an article published by SCREEN, and wrote on Instagram, “Kitna jhootha hai yeh aadmi. Shooting London mein hui thi and I was in India (He is such a liar, they shot in London and I was in India).” Anurag added, “He didn’t want the script by Motwane or me. He wanted to make Lagaan of football and took his own writer to write that crappy script. Neither me nor Motwane went on the set ever.”

Motwane shared his version of events in a recent interview, and said, “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.”