‘Badhaai Ho’ writers withdraw names from Filmfare nominations in protest

Shantanu Srivastava and Akshat Ghildial, writers of the hit comedy-drama ‘Badhaai Ho’ (2018), have withdrawn their names from the Filmfare awards, where they were up for the best original story award.

In a tweet, Srivastava wrote that he prefers losing an award to sharing it with an undeserving person. The writers took the decision after writer Jyoti Kapoor’s nomination was withdrawn. “Akshat and I have decided to withdraw our names from Filmfare Best Original Story nomination,” he wrote, “regardless of Jyoti Kapoor’s name being reinstated or not, as we believe it is better to lose a possible award than to share it with someone who has not written the story of Badhaai Ho. We wish all the nominees the best of luck and hope that self respect stays in currency forever.”

Srivastava, in an interview, insisted that Kapoor’s contribution to the story was limited to ‘the one-liner’ and did not extend beyond that, reports the Hindustan Times. He said, “I just want to clarify that we have never met Jyoti and the film has no basis in her original story. The only thing in common is the one-liner. Everything else is different. We don’t want to share the spotlight with someone who hasn’t worked on the film, but withdrawing our name from Filmfare nominations was the right thing to do.”

‘Badhaai Ho’ was a runaway success at the box office, cementing Ayushmann Khurrana’s reputation as a box office draw, and highlighting the talents of supporting actors Neena Gupta and Gajraj Rao, who play a middle-aged couple who experience an unexpected pregnancy.

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