Facing flak over Arundhati Roy tweet, more trouble for Paresh Rawal

Looks like there’s fresh trouble for actor Paresh Rawal. After his controversial tweet on Arundhati Roy earned him a lot of backlash on social media, now his upcoming Bollywood release Guest in London has landed in troubled waters with Warner Bros.

It’s most likely to be a bad news for Kumar Mangat’s upcoming comedy, Guest in London, which is scheduled to open on June 9. The Indian division of Warner Bros. Pictures has filed an injunction and demanded a stay order in the Bombay High Court on the film’s release. The studio claims that the film is being promoted as a sequel to their 2010 comedy, Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge?, whose remake and franchise rights are owned by them.

A senior executive of Warner Bros told a daily from Mumbai that they had been in talks with the makers of Guest in London for months, while it was under production and moved High Court when both parties failed to arrive at an amicable solution. The daily quoted its source as saying, “The original was a sleeper hit and recovered more than double its investment and the idea of a sequel had cropped up then. Kumar Mangat was keen on it and the studio was in talks with him. Then, last year, Atithi in London was announced even though the makers didn’t have any rights. The rights to a prequel, sequel, adaptation and remake all are with Warner Bros., the primary presenters and distributors of the original. As a damage control measure they changed the title from Atithi in London to Guest iin London and claim that their film has nothing to do with the original. But the story is in exact continuation with the franchise theme.”

The source went on to add that the promos on air right now feature a running gag with the phrase “Atithi tum kab jaoge” used as a constant refrain. Another grouse is that the new film is being promoted as a follow-up to the original.

Athithi Tum Kab Jaoge? was directed by Ashwni Dhir, and produced by Amita Pathak (Kumar Mangat’s daughter). The cast included Ajay Devgn and Konkona Sen Sharma as a married couple with Paresh Rawal as the unwanted guest. Guest in London, also directed by Ashwni, has unwanted guest Paresh Rawal along with his wife, played by Tanvi Azmi, who show up at the London apartment of a distant relative, played by Kartik Aaryan, and his live-in girlfriend, Kriti Kharbanda, unannounced