MUMBAI/LAHORE – During a late night call on Thursday following the Pakistan release of Arth 2, a copy of which was sent to the team of the original Arth, Mahesh Bhatt told Shaan Shahid that he shouldn’t have watched the 1982 original movie with Humayun Gujjar back to back.
“Unfortunately, that’s why your rendition of Arth had elements of both the original movie and Humayun Gujjar, which undoubtedly was a massive hit in Pakistan, but wasn’t quite the same genre as Arth,” a leaked Skype call available exclusively with The Dependent had Mahesh Bhatt saying, while addressing Shaan Shahid.
“I mean the role that you decided to give yourself from Arth wasn’t the main role in the original, you do realise that right?” Bhatt asked Shahid.
Even though the call is full of disclaimers on how Mahesh Bhatt has ‘absolutely nothing against’ Humyaun Gujjar, which the Bollywood filmmaker dubbed a ‘true art’ but of a ‘different kind’, Bhatt maintained that Arth – The Destination could’ve been a remake of either of the two movies.
“You could just as easily have called in Humayun Gujjar II or Humayun Gujjar – The Destination,” Mahesh Bhatt said.
“In fact, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to rerelease a Punjabi dubbed version with the latter title,” he further advised.