UTV and Yash Raj lock horns?

Some are calling it a way to settle old business scores; some say that it’s just the way it is. But the fact is that the most prominent production houses in Bollywood are giving each other a hard stare.
Yash Raj Films and UTV, the two biggest production houses in Bollywood, might lock horns with each other after sources connected with UTV’s latest production have reportedly hit Yash Raj ‘below the belt’.

“UTV’s next production Dhoondte Reh Jaoge was supposed to be a spoof on the different well-known and iconic movies in India. But while going through the first cut, we found that there are certain dialogues in the film which directly hit out at Yash Raj and the movies it has made,” says a source at the Censor Board.

We contacted a production person from the film’s unit and came back with the same response. “Dhoondte Reh Jaoge is a film within a film. The film is a spoof on Bollywood’s cult films. The film does take a dig at Yash Raj’s films and their type of film-making. There are certain scenes and dialogues which directly say that Yash Raj is an ‘out of date’ production house,” says the unit member.

On further probing it was revealed that the offending dialogues come during the sequence when the spoof of Shah Rukh-Kajol starrer Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge comes on screen, where the heroes of the film, Paresh Rawal, Kunal Khemu and Sonu Sood “will be seen taking Yash Raj’s name directly in the dialogues while taking a dig at the genre of films that they make.”

However, Umesh Shukla, the director of the film, says, “Though our film has spoofs of various films like Lagaan, DDLJ and Sholay, we have not ridiculed any of those classics. We did not have any such intention to begin with.”

We got in touch with Yash Raj, who are clearly playing the wait and watch game till the movie is released before taking a decision. “We have not seen anything so far on those lines. If indeed something like this has been done, we are sure that a responsible studio like UTV would have done it in jest and in good spirit and it should be taken in that light,” was the e-mail response from Rafiq Gangjee of Yash Raj Films.