Hindi Medium, starring Irrfan Khan, turned out to be one of the sleeper hits of 2017. It collected around Rs 63 crore at the BO and a few months down the line, the makers announced a sequel, too. Hindi Medium 2 is expected to go on floors by the end of this year. Owing to his ill-health, Irrfan is unlikely to be a part of the second instalment of the franchise.
However, now we have learnt that apparently all’s not well between producer Dinesh Vijan and director Saket Chaudhary, who had helmed the first part. A source says, “Dinu announced Hindi Medium 2 with Homi Adajania (his long-term associate, who had also helped him with his directorial debut Raabta) and reportedly Saket wasn’t even informed about it. He learnt about it only when the news was out.” Saket’s omission from the second part came as a shock to the film trade since he had ideated and designed the whole film. One of the major reasons behind this alleged fallout between the filmmaker and producer happens to be a financial tussle between the two.
Our source informs, “Dinu had promised Saket a certain remuneration to helm the comedy-drama. Despite it making a clear profit, he is yet to clear Saket’s dues. Things worsened so much that when Hindi Medium got the Best Film Award at a ceremony earlier this year, the producer didn’t even invite the director on stage. He refused to acknowledge Saket’s presence completely.”
We reached out to Saket, who told us that he’s out of the country, without confirming or denying the story. We sent text messages to Dinesh, too, but he didn’t respond till the time of going to press.
