by Subhash K Jha

Bunty is bubbly. The producer of Ek Ajnabee has a lot of reason to be happy. He has just received a letter from the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences stating they are interested in acquiring a copy of the the screenplay of Ek Ajnabee for their script collection.

Director Apoorva Lakhia who's halfway through his next script, an actioner set in the thick Mizoram jungles for which he wants someone sinewy like Akshay Kumar, is zapped. "I just heard from Bunty Walia. It's unbelievable. I've just been on a holiday in Thailand with my family. I showed them all the locations for Ek Ajnabee."

Isn't it ironical that the Americans want a copy of a script which is straightaway inspired by a Hollywood film Man On Fire?

Apoorva is defensive. "No, why should that be a deterrent? In case you've forgotten Man On Fire was the third remake of an earlier film. So we can count Ek Ajnabee as the fourth. It has also been selected for the Bangkok Film Festival."

Bunty is more open about his surprise. "After all the backlash we got for Ek Ajnabee being plagiarized...this honour! I believe only three other films—Ashutosh Gowariker's Swades, Nikhil Advani's Kal Ho Na Ho and Leena Bajaj's Shabd have been honoured in this way.

"I'm quite flattered. To our credit, Apoorva and I never hid the fact that Ek Ajnabee was adapted from Man On Fire. Quite unlike some others who borrow blindly and presume others are blind to their intentions."