The latest season of hit web series Made In Heaven 2 has been in news for all wrong reasons of late. A few days after the show released, Dalit author Yashica Dutt had accused the makers of using her work in the fifth episode, starring Radhika Apte, without giving her due credits for it. And now, filmmaker Anurag Kashyap has slammed her, calling her an "opportunist".
The fifth episode of Made In Heaven 2, titled The Heart Skipped a Beat, showed Radhika as a successful Dalit author Pallavi Menke, who fights against the stereotypes of the society to have a Buddhist wedding.
It was directed by Neeraj Ghaywan and later, showrunner Zoya Akhtar had issued a statement that she was deeply hurt by the accusations, and had clarified that the episode was not based on Dutt's work.
Anurag Kashyap calls Yashica Dutt "opportunist"
In a recent interaction, Kashyap said that he has seen Ghaywan's journey and that it took a lot of time for him to gather the courage and speak out.
Questioning Dutt's motive behind the allegations, Kasyap stated that she was looking for validation. "You're also attacking this guy, and you're attacking the guy who before you said something in a blog. So you are just looking for validation. For me, it looks like an opportunist. Nothing more than that," he said.
Dutt is yet to react to Kashyap's statements against her.
MIH 2 makers react to Dutt's claims
Zoya had penned a long note on her social media handle following Dutt's allegations and had stated that nothing in the episode starring Radhika Apte was drawn from from Dutt's book 'Coming Out As Dalit'.
"Coming out is a 1950s academic LGBTQIA term that was frist used by Mr Sumit Baudh in the Indian caste identity context in 2007. He used this in an article he wrote for Tarshi. A decade later it was used by Ms Dutt in her book. This term has since become common parlance for reclaiming caste-identity," she stated.
"In the episode, the character, Pallavi Menke simply uses it in this content. The character does not attribute herself and neither has been attributed with coining this term or being the pioneer of its usage in a Daslit context," she added.
Zoya stated, "We categorically deny any claim that Ms. Dutt's life of work was appropriated by us."
