Madhur Bhandarkar (right) had earlier alleged that the title of Karan Johar's reality show was similar to the one he owns. (Photo: Karan Johar, Madhur Bhandarkar/Instagram)Dharma Productions head Karan Johar took to Twitter on Thursday to apologise to filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar over their current row regarding the title of Dharma’s upcoming reality series The Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives. Bhandarkar had earlier said that he owned the title Bollywood Wives.
Johar addressed the letter to Bhandarkar and wrote, “I humbly apologise for any grievance that has been caused to you during the course of the last few weeks. However, I would want to clarify that we have chosen this new and different title ‘The Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives’ keeping in mind the non-fiction format of our reality-based franchise series. As our title was distinct, I did not foresee it upsetting you as it has and for that I duly apologise.”
Karan Johar also mentioned that they are promoting their show with the #FabulousLives hashtag on all social media platforms and intend to establish the franchise under the same name.
To my dear friend @imbhandarkar 🙏❤️ pic.twitter.com/l5oX2hmM8A
— Karan Johar (@karanjohar) November 26, 2020
The K3G director further wrote, “We assure you that the format, nature, audience and the title of our series are different and would not in any manner dent or encumber the exploitation of your work.”
The Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives is a reality series that follows Maheep Kapoor, Seema Khan, Bhavana Panday and Neelam Kothari. The series is set to premiere on Netflix on November 27.
Madhur Bhandarkar had earlier claimed on Twitter that Dharma Productions had “blatantly tweaked and misused” the title Bollywood Wives, which is a project being made by Bhandarkar.
He had earlier shared, “Dear @karanjohar, U & @apoorvamehta18 had asked me 4 the title #BollywoodWives for web,which I refused,as my project is underway. It is Morally & ethically wrong u to tweak it to #TheFabulousLivesofBollywoodWives. Pls do not dent my project. I humbly request u to change the title.”
Notices send to @DharmaMovies since 19th Nov, 2 from (IMPPA) ,1 (IFTDA)& 2 Notices of (FWICE )all r Official Bodies of the Film Industry, on misusing & tweaking of my Film Title #BollywoodWives…there is NO official response yet to any of the above Associations from Dharma. https://t.co/QBZyMWxXDG pic.twitter.com/zEfndEoATZ
— Madhur Bhandarkar (@imbhandarkar) November 26, 2020
The Chandni Bar director had also attached photos of notices sent to Dharma Productions by IMPPA, IFTDA and FWICE regarding the title, to which, he said, Dharma was yet to reply.