‘Jhootha aadmi': Anurag Kashyap claps back at Vivek Agnihotri for saying his alcoholism disrupted Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal shoot

Indian Express

14-05-2025

Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri, who worked with Anurag Kashyap on the 2007 film Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal, recently alleged that the Gangs of Wasseypur director's alcoholism created a lot of trouble for the team. He also alleged that Anurag palmed off all his writing work to Vikramaditya Motwane. Now, Anurag has reacted to these claims and called Vivek Agnihotri a 'big-time liar,' stating that he was never even on set. 'He took his own writer to write that crappy script,' said Anurag in an Instagram Story.
Anurag Kashyap shared a screenshot of an article published by SCREEN, and wrote, 'Kitna jhootha hai yeh aadmi. Shooting London mein hui thi and I was in India (He is such a liar, they shot in London and I was in India).' Anurag added, 'He didn't want the script by Motwane or me. He wanted to make Lagaan of football and took his own writer to write that crappy script. Neither me nor Motwane went on the set ever.'
In a recent interview with Digital Commentary, Vivek recalled working with Anurag and said, 'We worked together on Goal. He was writing the movie. Saif Ali Khan and Priyanka Chopra were supposed to do it, but Saif had some personal issues at the time, so he left. Then we got John and Bipasha. Anurag was a heavy drinker back then, and he couldn't be trusted with time. He brought Vikram Motwane on board, who is very talented guy. Anurag told me, 'Mera naya ladka hai woh help karega.''
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Vivek Agnihotri then accused Anurag of palming off his work to Vikram. 'They had a different version of the film, which didn't match with mine. Ultimately, we were at loggerheads. The production house had a word with Anurag. He became difficult to handle professionally, because only an alcoholic knows what an alcoholic goes through.' Vivek, in his interview however, never claimed that Anurag or Motwane came to set.
Previously, in an interview with Mid-Day, the Motwane shared his experience of working with Vivek. He said, 'UTV was producing the film, and Vivek had approached them with this story idea that he wanted to do about football, and they said okay. But he wanted a really good writer, so they called up Anurag. He said, 'Look, I know nothing about football, but this guy (Motwane) knows everything about football. So, I wrote it, and they were happy.'
Motwane shared that the film got made, but not in the way he or Anurag wanted. 'At that time, it was like beggars can't be choosers, you got paid for work. I still believe the original script of mine is one of the best things I have written.'