Apoorva Lakhia’s Haseena: The Queen Of Mumbai has landed in a controversy as the director of another film of the same name has claimed rights over the title. Vicky Ranawat’s Haseena: Smart, Sexy, Dangerous had released in 2007 and he has accused Lakhia of wrongfully using the title.
Speaking to a publication, Ranawat said, “Apoorva Lakhia wanted this title and used all his resources to try and get it. But I had booked the title Haseena in 2015. Apoorva tried to get IMPAA executive committee member Ashoke Pandit who is his friend, to persuade me to give up my title. The title body, Film Makers Combine (FMC), cancelled Apoorva’s application for the title of Haseena saying it was already with me.”
He also claimed that Lakhia had agreed to use the tagline of the film before the title. “Then Apoorva gave it in writing that he will use Queen of Mumbai Haseena uniformly throughout the film’s publicity and promotions. When I raised an objection to that, the FMC cancelled his title application again. I have all the rights to the title of Haseena. But in all publicity and promotional material he was using Haseena big and Queen of Mumbai small. The FMC sent him notice to stop using the title of Haseena again but he has not replied to that. Legally I am right so let’s see what happens,” he added.
Shraddha’s Haseena is based on the life of Haseena Parkar, sister of most wanted gangster and terrorist, Dawood Ibrahim. Shraddha's brother Siddhant Kapoor will also act in the film. Ranawat has accused Lakhia of glorifying criminals. He said, “My film does not glorify crime but Apoorva’s Haseena glorifies crime by calling Shraddha’s character a queen.”
Ranwat’s Haseena starred Isha Koppikar in the title role. The film also starred Raj Babbar, Kiran Janjani and Preeti Jhangiani.
Lakhia’s movie is all set to release on 14 July this year.