'Mirzapur' makers apologize to novelist, promise to edit controversial scene
Popular Hindi crime fiction writer Surendra Mohan Pathak had recently accused the makers of Amazon Prime Video series Mirzapur 2 of misrepresenting his novel Dhabba in one of the scenes. In response to that, Puneet Krishna, writer and creator of the show, has released a statement, apologizing to Pathak and offering to edit the said scene. Here are more details on this.
The said statement was issued by Excel Entertainment (the show's production company) and signed by Puneet. The makers acknowledged that the voice-over used in the scene where actor Kulbhushan Kharbanda's character is seen reading Pathak's book, is actually unrelated to the contents of the book. Furthermore, they offered an apology for "inadvertently hurting your sentiments."
"(We) would like to convey to you that this was not done with any malicious intent or to tarnish/damage your reputation. We are aware that you are a writer of repute and your work is held in high regard," the statement further read.
The makers have offered to edit the scene, either by blurring the book's cover or by removing the voice-over within a period of three weeks. "We would like to assure you that to rectify this situation, as discussed with you and as per your wishes, we will blur the book-cover in the scene or remove VO within a reasonable time of three weeks (sic)."
— Excel Entertainment (@excelmovies) October 30, 2020
In his statement, Pathak had accused the makers of violating the Copyright Act. "What is being read is sheer pornography, the undersigned cannot even dream of writing, supposedly to titillate the viewers," he had said, adding "The sequence defames me as an author and puts me in bad light." Pathak had threatened legal action against the makers if they did not remove the sequence.
For the unversed, Mirzapur 2 was released on Amazon Prime Video on October 22 and opened to mixed reviews. The show stars Pankaj Tripathi, Ali Fazal, Divyenndu Sharmaa, Shweta Tripathi Sharma, Harshita Gaur, Rasika Dugal, Rajesh Tailang, Sheeba Chadha, Anjum Sharma, Vijay Varma, among others.
