Ekta Kapoor to bring same-sex version of Romeo and Juliet

William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet has fascinated Bollywood film-makers for a while now. Even producer Ekta Kapoor had decided to adapt the classic, albeit with a twist — her version was to have same-sex lovers, Romil and Juggal.

William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet has fascinated Bollywood film-makers for a while now. Even producer

Ekta-Kapoor-shows-off-her-style-sense

Ekta Kapoor

had decided to adapt the classic, albeit with a twist — her version was to have same-sex lovers, Romil and Juggal. It was to be directed by Danish Aslam.

But now we have learned that the project might have been put on the back-burner.

A source close to the production says, "The makers, including Danish, realised that since their film deals with homosexuality, they might have trouble as Section 377 criminalises gay sex. That is why they’ve decided to rework the story."

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Shakespeare in Bollywood

Earlier, the CEO of Ekta’s production house had said that a portion of the film was going through a creative rewrite.

Recently, there were reports that the makers had shown the script to the Censor Board for approval.

"That was false news as there is no such provision. The board only watches movies, it does not approve scripts," adds the source.

The source adds that the makers have been asked by fans to shelve the film.

"They have been getting many letters asking them not to go ahead with it. They’re afraid that it might get embroiled in controversy as same-sex relationships are not accepted widely in India. If the rewrite isn’t up to the mark, they might shelve the project."