Zoya & Farhan Akhtar's plans to remake Heer Ranjha thwarted

Recently, there were reports that filmmaker Zoya Akhtar was keen to collaborate with her brother Farhan Akhtar to remake the cult classic Heer Ranjha, featuring veteran actor Raaj Kumar alongside Priya Rajvansh.

A source revealed to an Indian daily, “Zoya wants to remake Heer Ranjha and modernize it. She, along with brother Farhan, showed a keen interest in making the film again. Heer Ranjha is possibly the only film in verse made till date. The dialogues were nothing but poetry. It was written by Kaifi Azmi, their step-mother Shabana Azmi’s father. They wanted to make it as a tribute to the legendary poet.”

However, Farhan and Zoya have been denied the rights to remake the film. “The rights to the 1970 classic were with Chetan Anand and after his death, it’s now with his son Ketan Anand, who doesn’t want to part with the rights,” said the source.

Ketan said, “They didn’t request me personally. But people from Excel Entertainment, their company, got in touch with me. They approached me about five months ago. There was no personal communication with Farhan, Zoya, or Javed Akhtar. I turned them down right away.”

Meanwhile, Zoya Akhtar is set to begin her next film Gully Boy, starring Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt. Farhan Akhtar, on the other hand, will star in Mohit Suri's next.