There has to be basic honesty: Javed Akhtar on Modi biopic credit row

Javed Akhtar says it was unfair on "PM Narendra Modi" producers part to rehash his old song and put his name in the credits on the film's poster when he hadn't even worked on the remake version.

On March 22, Akhtar took to Twitter to say that he had not written any songs for the Vivek Oberoi-starrer and was "shocked" to find his name on its poster.

Akhtar, in an interview with PTI, said the practice was against "basic honesty".

"Nowadays, it has become a frequent practice that people buy rights of a song from an old film. They re-record it and use it. This is not fair," Akhtar said.

The veteran lyricist said the producer of the Modi biopic had picked up a song "Ishwar Allah" that he had done for Deepa Mehta's "1947: Earth" and they re-recorded it after buying the rights from T-series.

"They gave my name in the poster as the songwriter of this film. I was never the songwriter of this picture. Why give my name on the poster? If you want to thank or honour me, tell me why did you deprive A R Rahman (composer) from it? It is against the practice and tradition, there has to be basic honesty. They had no business to pretend that I am the songwriter of the film," he told PTI.

Asked if he would like to take the matter ahead, Akhtar said, "I have made my point."