'Format and title is different': Karan Johar apologises to Madhur Bhandarkar for 'Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives' title in open letter

Bhandarkar had accused Dharma of “misusing & tweaking” the title of his undergoing project Bollywood Wives

Filmmakers Karan Johar and Madhur Bhandarkar.

Tribune Web Desk
Chandigarh, November 26

Days after being accused of changing the title owned by Madhu Bhandarkar, and using it for Dharma Productions', 'The Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives', filmmaker Karan Johar has written an open letter.

The show would air on Netflix with the focus on four Bollywood wives—Neelam Kothari, Seema Khan, Maheep Kapoor and Bhavana Panday.

Writing an open letter to Bhandarkar, Karan wrote: “Dear Madhur, Our relationship goes back a long way, and we have both been a part of this close-knit industry for many, many years. Through all these years. I have been an ardent admirer of your work and I have always wished the best for you.”

Karan apologised for the use of the title for the upcoming show, and further said: “I know you have been upset with us. I humbly apologise for any grievance that has been caused to you during the course of the last few weeks. However, I would want to clarify that we have chosen this new and different title -The Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives keeping in mind the non-fiction format of our reality-based franchise series. As our title was distine, I did not foresee it upsetting you as it has and for that I duly apologise.”

Assuring no harm to Bhandarkar's show, and Karan continued: “I want to inform you that we have been promoting our series with the hashtag “Fabulous Lives” on all social media platforms, which is the franchise title we intend to go ahead with. We assure you that the format, nature, audience and the title of our series are different and would not in any manner dent or encumber the exploitation of your work.”

“I hope we can move away and onward from this and continue to make exceptionally good content for our audiences. I wish you the very best for all your endeavours and look forward to watching your work,” he ended the letter.

To my dear friend @imbhandarkar 🙏❤️ pic.twitter.com/l5oX2hmM8A
— Karan Johar (@karanjohar) November 26, 2020

On Thursday, Bhandarkar had shared pictures of the notices he had sent to Karan Johar’s production house and other bodies, claiming that he was yet to get any response from him.

He had accused them of “misusing & tweaking” the title of his undergoing project Bollywood Wives.

Notices send to @DharmaMovies since 19th Nov, 2 from (IMPPA) ,1 (IFTDA)& 2 Notices of (FWICE )all r Official Bodies of the Film Industry, on misusing & tweaking of my Film Title #BollywoodWives...there is NO official response yet to any of the above Associations from Dharma. https://t.co/QBZyMWxXDG pic.twitter.com/zEfndEoATZ
— Madhur Bhandarkar (@imbhandarkar) November 26, 2020