There seems to be a feud brewing between Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Farah Khan. Both directors have a huge release coming out on November 9th. SLB’s Saawariya and Farah Khan’s Om Shanti Om. But is it truly a feud or is it SLB getting upset over comments made not by Farah Khan, but by someone close to her.
A lot of his anger stems from a headline of HitList, which said ‘Lily Don’t Be Silly’ and in the article they had sources commenting on some of the answers SLB had given in an interview. In this interview, both directors were asked to comment on their respective newcomers (Sonam Kapoor and Deepika Padukone) and upcoming film. Farah Khan was a little more forthcoming in her answers, however both directors said that they had not seen the others promos.
According to Hitlist in the ‘Lily Don’t be Silly’ article, ‘I’m telling you, Lily (short for Leela and a popular nickname for the Devdas director) has seen the promos of Om Shanti Om. In fact, both he and Shah Rukh (Khan) were shooting in Film City, when SRK invited him over for lunch. Lily saw the promos and an entire song featuring Deepika on SRK’s laptop. He went into depression after that,’ says a catty source.”
Now today, Bhansali is striking back by saying that Farah Khan and sources close to her have been making barbed comments. In another article in Hitlist, it was reported that “he’s of the opinion that ‘acerbic’ items like ‘Lily, don’t be silly’ (in yesterday’s HiTLIST) shouldn’t be published.”
Bhansali said, “I’m proud to have my mother’s name (Leela) as part of mine. No civilised person would want his or her parent ridiculed. Even if ‘reliable sources’ decide to make fun of my mother to get mileage, they’ll still have her blessings. My mom has shown immense love for Farah (Khan) and her family, although over the years they’ve repeatedly made barbed comments about her in public.”
Bhansali was already upset with Farah for her appearance on Koffee with Karan and her comment in the rapid fire round. “Farah said that if I were to make Om Shanti Om, it would be called Ma Shanti Ma. Why bring my mother into this, especially since she has so much affection for Farah?
No matter what the provocation, I’d never speak like this about anyone’s parents. If Farah is feeling competitive towards my film, she should restrict her comments to my work and not get personal. We go back a long way, so we shouldn’t allow one film to sour relations.”
Sanjay is very upset and he has spoken to SRK and they have agreed to refrain form speaking of the others project in print, “I intend to stick to that decision even if other people on his behalf are eagerly breaking that moral code. ‘Sources’ close to the film are making catty comments about me and even my mother to get attention,” he said.
Adding, “I’m not going to be provoked into talking about another person’s film or its cast. My mother and I wish Shah Rukh and his film all the best from the bottom of our hearts.”
To us it seems that though he has a right to be upset at the “catty sources” comments, they certainly were not directed at his mother. His anger should be at the newspaper for running that title and not at Farah Khan for that instance. Whatever the case, the run up to November 9th certainly is going to be interesting and we will keep you up to date on all the new developments.
