Kangana Ranaut, differences over Simran: Why Hansal Mehta-Apurva Asrani's partnership ended

Filmmaker Hansal Mehta has parted ways with his fellow National Award winner and editor-writer Apurva Asrani. The two have previously collaborated on five films including the 2012 biopic Shahid, the 2014 film Citylights and most recently, Aligarh from last year. In fact, Mumbai Mirror reports that it was the lead actor of Aligarh, Manoj Bajpayee, who introduced the two to each other. Back in 1998, Bajpayee had collaborated with Asrani on Ram Gopal Varma’s crime drama Satya. He had then roped in Asrani to cut the promos for Mehta’s Dil Pe Mat Le Yar starring the actor. After that, there was no turning back. [caption id=“attachment_3432596” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Apurva Asrani and Hansal Mehta. Twitter[/caption] However, Mehta’s next, Simran, will be their last collaboration for a long time ahead. They have mutually and amicably parted ways. The report by Mumbai Mirror quotes Asrani as saying, “I think all partnerships reach a saturation point and it’s best to break away before the love turns sour. Hansal and I have stood together during very challenging times. But today, the challenges are fewer, the ambitions are greater and he is a name to reckon with. I have also found my voice as a storyteller, and it’s time to explore new collaborations.” There were speculations that Asrani was miffed with Mehta’s decision to give additional credits for dialogues to the leading lady of Simran, Kangana Ranaut. But as per the report, Asrani clarifies that Ranaut clearly deserves it but he was offended by her last minute inclusion by Mehta. “There is some hurt over the way things were announced without consulting me. I didn’t know that Hansal had promised Kangana part of the writing credit till I had finished the edit. By the time I got to know, the announcement had been made.” Now, Bollywood Hungama reports that Asrani has been sacked as the editor of Simran and that his assistant was not even allowed to enter the edit room.