Dev Anand has threatened filmmaker Pritish Nandy with legal consequences if he goes ahead with the proposed remake of Guide.
Dev, who produced the film and holds the copyrights of the novel by RK Narayan on which it is based, sent the letter after reports said that Nandy intended to join hands with Rituparno Ghosh to remake Vijay Anand's 1964 classic.
But Nandy, who's currently engrossed in the process of releasing his production Ankahee, has dismissed the senior actor's legal threat as "impolite".
"As I have explained to Dev, we are not remaking Guide. Pritish Nandy Communications (PNC), our director Rituparno Ghosh and I have consistently denied that Rahgir is a remake of Guide, Nandy said.
"We are remaking only one classic - Bimal Mitra's Sahib Bibi AurGhulam, and we've obtained the author's family's permission for the same. If we were remaking Guide, we'd have got the rights to do so," Nandy said.
Explaining that the screenplay of Rahgir is still being written, Nandy corrected the misapprehensions regarding the proposed film.
"The protagonists of Guide were named Raju and Rosie. Our protagonists are different. He was a travel guide and she was a dancer. Our film has neither a guide nor a dancer.
"What is common between Guide and Rahgir is an illicit relationship which the hero has with the married heroine. No one can have a copyright over illicit love in our day and age," said Nandy.
{{/usCountry}}"What is common between Guide and Rahgir is an illicit relationship which the hero has with the married heroine. No one can have a copyright over illicit love in our day and age," said Nandy.
{{/usCountry}}Interestingly, there's a spate of remakes - from Sholay and Don to Amar Akbar Anthony and Sahib Bibi AurGhulam coming up.
Only time will tell whether Rahgir is going to be a reworked version of Guide.
A few years ago, Sooraj Barjatya came up with Hum Aapke HainKoun and Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon, which updated and modified Barjatya's original films Nadiya KePaar and Chitchor, respectively.