All's not well for Nagraj Manjule: Amitabh Bachchan opts out from Jhund

Sairat may be Marathi cinema’s biggest success to date, but its low-key director Nagraj Manjule has not had much luck since the blockbuster. Immediately after the film’s grand success, he was verbally attacked for domestic abuse by his former wife. A shy and shocked Manjule withdrew into a shell.

“Destiny had other plans for my success. I got no chance to enjoy it. I didn’t know what hit me,” Nagraj said. His shock at being targeted at a time when his career took off in a big way multiplied when Karan Johar took over the Hindi remake rights of Sairat and signed Ishaan Khatter and Janhvi Kapoor for the lead. He was shocked at not being asked to direct the remake and Karan’s in-house director Shashank Khaitan was chosen to helm the remake named Dhadak. Nagraj has, however, moved on. He launched his first Hindi film Jhund with the biggest star of them all, Amitabh Bachchan, playing Vijay Barse, the Nagpur-based football coach, who coaches slum kids. Both Amitabh and Nagraj were kicked about the film. Mr B even started taking a fresh course in soccer from son Abhishek. But then, it all fell apart. Apparently there are copyright-infringement issues making it impossible for Manjule to go ahead until matters are sorted out.

A source close to the development says chances of Jhund being made are remote. “Amitji waited patiently for the problems to be sorted out. A lot of his dates were lost in the process. He’s now moved on.”