'Badhaai Ho' writers Shantanu Srivastava, Akshat Ghildial withdraw names from Filmfare Awards nomination

The writers of 'Badhaai Ho', Shantanu Srivastava and Akshat Ghildial withdrew their names from this year's Filmfare Awards. They have been nominated for Best Original Story at the 64th Filmfare Awards for Junglee Pictures' 'Badhaai Ho'. The withdrawal comes in protest to writer Jyoti Kapoor's claims of being the one who came up with the film's premise initially.
Srivastava announced the same on Twitter and wrote that they believed it would be better to lose an award rather than share it with someone who has not written the story.
TOI reached out to the film's team and here's what they had to say.
Shantanu Srivastava said, "In the protest (of Jyoti Kapoor's claims), we have decided to withdraw our names from the nominations as we do not want to share our nominations, acclaims with someone who has not worked on the project. It is as simple as that and if there is any doubt please feel free to compare our story and script which is already on public domain with the story and screenplay written by Jyoti Kapoor."
Amit Ravindernath Sharma, the film's director, said that Jyoti has nothing to do with 'Badhaai Ho' and she has not written it. Here's Amit's detailed statement:
My intention behind making the film was to spread happiness and not convolute it with controversies. The media nowadays is strong and forthcoming and I appreciate that, but it's amazing how easy it is to manipulate and confuse people through social platforms. What I am going to say is black and white, there is no grey.
Badhaai Ho!, the film that came out in October 2018, was written by Akshat and Shantanu, Ms. Jyoti Kapor had nothing to do with the story or the script that transcribed to the motion picture that was loved by the audiences.
What's appalling is that nobody has approached me asking for clarifications on the same. A director would be aware who wrote the film he is directing. I haven't met Ms. Jyoti till date nor have I ever read the script of Hum do Humare Char which she claims has resemblance to Badhaai Ho. Jyoti had the same one line idea which I was unaware of till I got to know the same from Junglee Pictures.
The Film industry is brutal and unforgiving and unlike the corporate sector there is a lot riding alongside the hard work we put in. I have known Akshat and Shantanu since their forming years, they have been true to the art and diligent with their work but never have they been cheats. Filmfare is one of the biggest platforms that gives recognition to artists from the Indian Film Industry and makes them a household name. If Ms. Jyoti has truly contributed to the script of Badhaai ho, I request her to come out in the open with her script, and end this confusion once and for all.
Akshat, one of the writers on Badhaai Ho!, came up with this idea way back in 2012, for an ad campaign. He narrated the idea to me and we started work on the same. This was in 2015. Soon after when Priti (Shahani) got to know I was working on a similar idea, we met and she heard our story, she loved it so much that she said we should continue developing it. Akshat and Shantanu started developing the story which became Badhaai Ho!. I am not insinuating anything here neither am I leaving anything for the grey, or for odd assumptions, The story was developed by only Akshat and Shantanu keeping Junglee in the loop. Ms. Jyoti nor her version of the story were ever responsible for what became Badhaai Ho!.
Priti spoke to Akshat and Shantanu and in good faith, they agreed upon giving Ms. Jyoti Kapoor the credit, for “Story for Junglee pictures”, as you can see it appear not with the main writers but towards the end of the credit roll.
I am saddened to hear that two hardworking individuals will be missing out on something they really worked hard towards.
I wish Ms. Jyoti Kapoor all the luck, and success for her forthcoming projects.
Akshat Ghildial also stood by what Shantanu said, "I don't have to say anything different than what Shantanu and Amit said. I don't even know whether we are going get the award or no but there is no point in the fight. So it is better to dismerge (sic) our name from hers and withdraw it from the nomination list because if ever we get that award, we don't want to stand with someone who has not at all worked on the project."
Talking about issue in detail he further said, "We were actually developing the idea of Badhaai Ho with Amit while she was working on a similar concept with Junglee. However, when she heard about our concept Priti herself said that this is better than what I am working on and we went ahead with our story and not hers."
Priti Shahani, producer of 'Badhaai Ho', also offered a detailed statement. Here's what she had to say:
It is disheartening to see that our writers Shantanu and Akshat have been put in a position where they believe that the right thing to do is withdraw their names from the Filmfare nomination for Best Story.
Jyoti Kapoor was commissioned as a writer to develop a story based on an in-house concept which was tentatively titled ‘Hum Do Hamaare Chaar’. During the development phase we learned that director Amit Sharma was also working on the same idea. As prudent producers, we met Amit Sharma to understand and discuss the direction of each other’s work. It was then Junglee Pictures who made a creative decision to collapse our in-house development and back the story being created by Shantanu and Akshat. We had this discussion with Jyoti Kapoor, compensated her for her time and effort as per the agreement and terminated our contract with her.
Junglee Pictures had agreed to give her a credit only if her work was used, however (we) gave it on good faith as we were crediting our in house team member for the story idea. The story by her ‘Hum do Hamaare Chaar’ bears no resemblance whatsoever to 'Badhaai Ho'. She does not share the top billing credit with the writers for the same reason.
Filmfare mistakenly had her name in the story credit for award nomination and on clarification made the appropriate change. It is our duty to stand by our writers and their work and we will support this in every way we can. Their work has been loved and appreciated and they have been rightfully been nominated for the same.