by Subhash K Jha

Reacting to reports in the press that Pritish Nandy intends to join hands with Rituparno Ghosh to remake Vijay Anand's 1964 classic study of dance, drama and adultery Guide, Dev Anand who produced Guide and holds the copyrights of the novel by R.K. Narayan, has sent Pritish a letter threatening him with legal consequences.

But Pritish Nandy who's currently engrossed in the process of releasing his next production Ankahee, dismisses the senior actor's legal threat as "impolite".

Says the prolific producer, "As I've 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.

"We're remaking only one classic: Bimal Mitra's Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam 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."

Explaining that the screenplay of Rahgir is still being written, Pritish corrects 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. In our day and age no one can have a copyright over illicit love," concludes Pritish Nandy drily.

Interestingly there's a spate of remakes –from Sholay and Don to Amar Akbar Anthony and Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam coming up.

But Rahgir will be totally re-worked version of Guide, just like Sooraj Barjatya's Hum Aapke Hain Koun and Main Prem Ki Deewani Hoon which updated and modified Barjatya's Nadiya Ke Paar and Chit Chor, respectively.