Gaurang Doshi: “No way Am I Selling My Rights Of Aankhen”

Producer Gaurang Doshi who moved to Dubai  some years  ago, is   both exasperated and amused  by a report that  he may have to  sell the rights  of  Aankhen  to another producer.

“No way!”  Gaurang expostulates  from Dubai.  “No power  on earth can make me  part  with  the rights for the remake.I am sending you legal  proof  of the fact that the rights  for Aankhen are  only with me. I would like to know from where this news of  buying me off  is coming? Obviously from the  people who are  interested in doing the sequel. I want to state once and for all, that the right to do the sequel to Aankhen  is mine . Only I  will do  the  needful.”

 In 2002 Vipul Shah had  directed the Gaurang  Doshi produced Aankhen, a screen  adaptation of the hit Gujarati play All The Best featuring Amitbh  Bachchan, Arjun Rampal, Akshay Kumar and Paresh Rawail  as visually disable  men pulling  off a bank heist. Ever since then Doshi has been  unsuccessfully trying to  put together a  sequel.

Two years  ago Rajtaru  Studios co-producers  of  Aankhen had announced  a sequel to be  directed  by Anees Bazmi.

 Anees  had told me, “As you know Aankhen 2 was to be produced  by Gaurang Doshi who had produced  the original Aankhen film in  2002.  I knew Rajtaru Studios(co-partners Raj Rajtaru and  Tarun Aggarwal) were a  co-producers.  I kept asking Gaurang to get an NOC from Rajtaru. He insisted I shouldn’t worry. ‘If I am investing  money surely I’ve got the basic rights in place,’ Gaurang  told me. I  went ahead with his conviction. We even had a mahurat ceremony attended by Bachchan Saab.”

It was then that Rajtaru Studios raised objection to Doshi producing Aankhen 2.

Anees told me  in 2019, “Sadly Gaurang is  no longer a part of Aankhen 2. It is being co-produced jointly  by Rajtaru and Eros International.