‘Rock On!!’ director Abhishek Kapoor takes Farhan Akhtar, Ritesh Sidhwani to court over sequel’s script

According to reports, Abhishek Kapoor had been working on the script of the sequel since September 2011 along with Pubali Chaudhuri.

Abhishek Kapoor, who made his Bollywood debut as director with ‘Rock On!!’ starring Farhan Akhtar, Purab Kohli and Arjun Rampal, has moved to the Bombay High Court to stall the making of the sequel to the movie. The director claims that he has not been credited with the story which is being produced by Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani’s Excel Entertainment.

According to a report published in Mumbai Mirror, Abhishek Kapoor had been working on the script of the sequel since September 2011 along with Pubali Chaudhuri. The two regularly exchanged emails while developing the concept. But now, Excel has solely credited the latter for the script.

He claims that after creative differences with the production house, he sent an email to Chaudhuri on August 13, 2013, saying: “I heard about Excel making ‘Rock On 2′. Have they contacted you? I have a feeling they would want to make our script.” He claimed that Chaudhuri replied the next day saying she was unwell and would meet him later to discuss the matter.

However, the same day, Chaudhuri got the script registered with the Film Writers’ Association.

On February 11, 2014, Abhishek Kapoor had applied to the Film Writers’ Association to register the script of ‘Rock On 2′ in his name. The association ruled in his favour.

In October, when Abhishek Kapoor came across news of ‘Rock On 2′ being made, he sent a letter to the production house claiming credit and remuneration for the script. He received a reply stating that Excel had considered hiring Kapoor as director for the sequel and Chaudhuri had started discussing story with him in “good faith”.

“Excel made several allegations which are not only false but contrary to the records and the emails exchanged between the parties. For the first time, Excel alleged that they have engaged Chaudhuri solely to write the story and screenplay of Rock On 2,” the suit claimed.

The suit also says, “The company’s directors had created a friendly atmosphere and I started trusting them. The clauses of the agreement were in favour of Excel, and some of the clauses are even contradictory to one another and completely contrary to the Copyright Act.”

There’s no official statement released from either as yet.

Source:: Indian Express