Badhaai Ho co-writers Shantanu Srivastava, Akshat Ghildial withdraw names from Filmfare Awards nomination

It recently came to light that screenwriter  Jyoti Kapoor , who was credited as a writer on Badhaai Ho , was dropped from the upcoming Filmfare Awards Best Original Story nomination. Following a detailed interview with Firstpost that was published yesterday, on 19 March, co-writers Shantanu Srivastava and Akshat Ghildial have withdrawn their names from the nominations list as well. Srivastava on Twitter announced the same and wrote that they believed it would be better to lose an award rather than share it with someone who has not written the story.

Srivastava also spoke to Firstpost, and clarified his decision. “It was the right thing to do. We heard that Jyoti’s name was dropped, and made this decision yesterday after reading the Firstpost interview. I just want to clarify that we [Srivastava and co-writer Akshat Ghildiyal] 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. For further explanations, you should speak to someone from Junglee Pictures.” Firstpost has reached out to Priti Shahani, President, Junglee Pictures, for a comment on the matter but she is yet to respond. We will update our report as and when she does. Kapoor had told Firstpost in the interview that Junglee Pictures had included her name in the credits out of ‘good faith’ but it was unceremoniously dropped off from the nominations. It is important to note that both Junglee Pictures and Filmfare are part of the same parent company, Bennett Coleman & co.

Reinstate my name in nominations for #BestStory @filmfare. It's not about the awards per se but the brazen injustice. Thank you @firstpost for giving me the platform to speak. #BadhaaiHo @Neenagupta001 @ayushmannk @raogajraj @Javedakhtarjadu @varungrover https://t.co/OXwiyq208V

— Jyoti Kapoor (@KapoorJo) March 19, 2019

Badhaai Ho charted the journey of a family after a sudden pregnancy hilariously disrupts the delicate balance in the middle-class household. The film, which was appreciated by audience and critics alike for its simple and endearing narrative, included Ayushmann Khurrana, Sanya Malhotra, Gajraj Rao and Neena Gupta.