An upset Aamir Khan has spoken out against author Chetan Bhagat, on whose novel the star's latest blockbuster '3 Idiots' is based, accusing him of trying to take away the credit from the film's scriptwriter.
"He is trying to take away the credit from the film's writer Abhijat Joshi, which I am very upset about. It is an attempt on his part to try and take the credit away from the person who has actually worked on the script. It's very unfortunate. There should not be any confusion to anyone that Abhijat is our film's writer," Khan told reporters here last night.
Bhagat had earlier accused the film makers of "playing" with him and not giving him adequate credit in '3 Idiots' based on his bestseller 'Five Point Someone'. The actor said the film makers were honest in their agreement with the novelist and had given him his due credit in the film.
"But in my opinion the credit should be given to Abhijat. For three years, this man has worked on the script. Nobody knows him, but Chetan is a big star," he added. Recalling that Bhagat had once admitted to him that the film was very different from the book, Khan said, "Now the film has become successful so he is trying to get some publicity. It's very unfortunate".
"Abhijat has written the script and Raju Hirani worked on it. Raju and Abhijat took the idea from Chetan's book. The starting point is 'Five Point Someone', but after that the script has changed entirely," he said. In his blog yesterday, Bhagat had written that he had been silently grappling with the issue for the past two years.
"I knew they had played with me, and that 'based on a novel by' credit, which they were legally bound to give would be hushed away at the end -- with the clear intention of making sure people miss it," he said.
The novelist has alleged that, contrary to what the makers have said, much of the film is from his book. "The setting, characters, plot, dramatic twists and turns, one-liners, theme, message -- almost all aspects that make the story are from FPS. Yes, there are some changes, any adaptation requires that -- but it is no way an original story," he claimed.
Produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra and directed by Rajkumar Hirani, '3 Idiots' has created a box-office history by collecting Rs 175 crore just days after its release on the Christmas day, making it one of the biggest opening for a Hindi film this decade.
