“I had acquired the rights to make Front of the Class as a Hindi motion picture,” says director of Hichki Siddharth P Malhotra

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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The trailer of Rani Mukerji’s next, Hichki that celebrates self-belief, resilience of human spirit and the power to chase one’s dreams, has become a rage online. Audiences and fans are loving Rani’s outstanding return to cinema after three years with a heartfelt, power-packed performance.

Rani plays the role of Naina Mathur who has a nervous system disorder, Tourette Syndrome that forces an individual to make involuntary repetitive movements or sounds. Hichki is based on the outstanding autobiography by Brad Cohen titled Front of the Class that went on to become an acclaimed Hallmark TV film in 2008. The film was directed by Peter Werner. Talking about the same YRF spokesperson said, “YRF has acquired the rights of Brad’s book and has changed the plot substantially. It is a brand new film now. Brad Cohen’s life and journey is the inspiration for the film and Rani’s character. Everything else has been completely changed by the makers and Hichki narrates a completely new and uplifting story of a girl who is chasing her dreams despite limitations,” Hichki focusses on turning disadvantages into opportunities and staring down at challenges life throws at one and ultimately winning over them.

While the announcement put the questions of whether the film was a rip off from the Hollywood flick and novel another issue surfaced with Nishant Kaushil claiming that he had creatively contributed to the film.

However silencing those reports the director of Hichki, Siddharth P Malhotra released a statement claiming that he never even met Nishant saying, “I had acquired the rights to make Front of the Class as a Hindi motion picture in 2013. Nishant Kaushik’s claims are baseless. He was contacted through Exceed Entertainment and I haven’t even met him once. We were looking for writers who could come up with a take on the Front of the Class. We had approached several writers including Nishant. He was given a brief for the film and the story and slant he came up with, was not what we were looking for. So, we did not proceed with him and Exceed was informed about my decision immediately. This was, 2015.”

Continuing the explanation on how the final creative draft of the film was made Malhotra added, “Several prominent writers like Amole Gupte, Abbas Tyrewala have worked on the story of Hichki and we have obtained NOC’s from them and I thank each one of them for being the creative contributors of Hichki. We have credited all the writers who have worked in our film. So, it is ridiculous that we will not give credit to anyone in particular who has worked hard and contributed for Hichki.”

The trailer of the film has been attached to the most awaited action entertainer of this year, Tiger Zinda Hai. YRF’s Hichki has been directed by Siddharth P. Malhotra and has been produced by Maneesh Sharma. The film is set to release on February 23, next year.

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