Abhishek Kapoor reveals why he took Sara Ali Khan to court over Kedarnath

Sara Ali Khan has been touted as a promising young talent after an impressive show in her maiden film Kedarnath (2018). A month after the film's release, director Abhishek Kapoor has opened up on why he took the legal route against Khan to ensure that Kedarnath would be her debut film.

Kedarnath was mired in financial disputes, and last year, Kapoor had taken Khan to court for allegedly not honouring her professional commitments. As Kedarnath was stuck in a financial mess, Khan had commenced work on Simmba, also starring Ranveer Singh.

“When Simmba (2018) instead of Kedarnath was being called Sara’s debut release I fought a battle with Sara in court and then pulled up the release of Kedarnath ahead of schedule in December, which was logistically a crazy thing to do. Sara has no clue what I’ve been through to finally complete the film and ensure that she rocks in it. My producer Ronnie Screwvala and I had to go to court. Then we met Rohit [Shetty] and sorted the dates out,” Kapoor told The Asian Age.

Kedarnath was released on 7 December, while Simmba came out on 28 December 2018.

Kedarnath review: Sara Ali Khan sails through in this Titanic-like catastrophe drama

While speaking to reporters ahead of Simmba’s release, Simmba director Rohit Shetty, too, clarified that he didn’t want Simmba to be Khan’s first film.

“Kedarnath had run into problems and it didn’t revive, Sara used to ask me whether I will put my name as launching, introducing her... I said ethically it would be wrong. That credit should always be Gattu’s [Abhishek Kapoor]. I am very happy that Kedarnath came before Simmba,” Shetty told reporters.

Shetty clarified that he never envisioned Khan being in Simmba.

“Nobody approached me for Sara. It was Sara who came to my office. I’d told Karan Johar [Simmba co-producer] that if we get Sara, I will complete the film in four months, we will come before Kedarnath. Next day, Gattu [Abhishek Kapoor] called me saying that you can take Sara. He felt Sara suited the character in Simmba. The next day I called Sara and that is how Sara came on board,” added Shetty.

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Kedarnath got positive reviews, and did decent box office business. Simmba is still in theatres and has crossed the Rs200 crore nett mark in domestic business.