Srijit Mukherji took to FB to vent his anguish on Thursday afternoon. “Everyone is free to make anything he or she wants. But if he or she feels Autograph is a remake of Nayok, he or she needs to go back and watch both films again, and then revisit some basic definitions,” he wrote. While he didn’t attribute the quote and divulge the context, director
Birsa Dasgupta wrote back on the same post.
“Aare Srijit tag me in it instead of writing he or she. It’s a misquote or miscommunication. I wanted to mean that remaking or adapting or getting insipired by or dedicating or making an original, all these matter only if the film made now is good and successful. Autograph is a game changer, and Nayok is its inspiration,” he wrote, adding that his film, Crisscross, is releasing tomorrow and that it’s an adaptation of a novel.
He even invited Srijit to the premiere, who, in turn, wrote, “Fingers crisscrossed! It has been a great first half for Bangla cinema from Shabar to Uma. Hope the baton is carried on till December.” Incidentally, the two directors had locked horns two years back when their Zulfiqar and Gangster released on the same Puja date.