Zid director Vivek Agnihotri: This is not the film I was asked to make!

The director says he wants nothing to do with what the film has ended up as

Zid might come across as a sleazy erotic thriller now, but director Vivek Agnihotri says the film started out as the remake of The Good Neighbour, a 2011 German film.

Vivek, who is currently shooting Junooniyat in Kashmir, is livid that his name is still attached to the project. He says, “Anubhav Sinha, who is an old friend of mine, came to me with the proposal to remake the German film The Good Neighbour. He was distressed as three directors had already left the project. He asked me to step in. I couldn’t say no.”

He continues, “I finished the first schedule. When I returned, to my horror, they had shot erotic content behind my back. I was horrified. If you see The Good Neighbour there is no room for sex or erotica. The protagonists don’t even meet in the original story. How can they make love?”

Vivek tried to reason with Anubhav. But to no avail. “He told me, the minute the erotic content was announced, Zid was sold to the distributors, because my erotic thriller Hate Story was a hit. I’ve nothing against shooting erotica. Agar mujhe erotic film banaani hogi toh main danke ki chot par banaaoogna (if I’ve to make an erotic thriller I’ll do so without apology). But it has to be part of the story. Sex and nudity are not part of The Good Neighbour. How can they be a part of the remake?”

Vivek suspects the steamy scenes have been shot only for the teaser trailers. “I don’t know how or when Barbie or Mannara or whatever she calls herself now and her co-star Karan shot these scenes. But this is not the film I was asked to make. This is not The Good Neighbour. It’s something else. And I don’t want any part of it. I’m speaking about

this now only because they’ve refused to remove my name from the credits.”

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