Anurag Kashyap hits back at Vivek Agnihotri on ‘alcoholic’ comment: ‘What a liar’

Vivek Agnihotri, in a recent interview, criticised Anurag Kashyap, with whom he worked on the 2007 film Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal, stating that the latter’s alcoholism caused a lot of trouble for the team. The Kashmir Files director also alleged that Anurag, who was commissioned to write the film, dumped all his work on Vikramaditya Motwane.

Now, Anurag took to his Instagram stories to react to Vivek’s claims. He posted a screenshot of a news story about the latter’s comments and wrote, “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).” He 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.”

In the interview with Digital Commentary, Vivek spoke about working 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 with time. He brought Vikram Motwane on board, who is very talented guy. Anurag told me, ‘Mera naya ladka hai woh help karega (I have a new guy who will work with me).’

Vivek added, “They (Anurag and Vikram) had a different version of 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 professionally, because only an alcoholic knows what an alcoholic goes through.” Vivek, however, never claimed that Anurag or Vikramaditya ever came to set.

Previously, in an interview with Mid-Day, Vikramaditya had shared his experience of working with Vivek. He said, “UTV was producing the film, and Vivek had approached them with this story idea that he wanted to do about football, and they said ok. But he wanted a really good writer, so they called up Anurag. He said, ‘Look, I know nothing about football, but this guy (Vikramaditya) knows everything about football. So, I wrote it, and they were happy.”

Vikramaditya shared that the film got made, but not in the way he or Anurag wanted. “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 have written.”