Mukesh Bhatt: I don’t want anyone to destroy my Aashiqui franchise - Exclusive

There is some massive ownership drama unfolding over the famous Aashiqui franchise. This drama launched Rahul Roy and Anu Agarwal back in 1990 and was revived with an equally hit sequel starring Aditya Roy Kapur and Sharaddha Kapooor in 2013.
And there was huge excitement when Aashiqui 3 was announced last year with Anurag Basu directing Kartik Aaryan in the lead.However, recent disagreements over ownership and creative rights of the franchise have led to Mukesh Bhatt's Vishesh Films’ issuing a notice claiming to be the producer and joint rightful owner of the intellectual property rights associated with the Aashiqui franchise. Reacting to it, Mahesh Bhatt told Bombay Times that the moral legacy of Aashiqui franchise belongs to Gulshan Kumar, which is T-Series.
When ETimes reached out to flm producer Mukesh Bhatt for his reaction on the latest turn in events, the filmmaker stated, "I want the Aashiqui sequel to be made correctly and honestly. I do not want anyone to destroy my franchisee. It has happened to one of my franchisee in the past and I will not let it happen to Aashiqui."
Speaking about how Aashiqui began with Gulshan Kumar, Mahesh Bhatt had stated, “I remember that I was shooting at Horizon Hotel in Juhu, and a man who was standing at the corner of my set introduced himself as a music baron, who had just moved to Mumbai from Delhi. He said, ‘Main Shivji ka bhakt hu. Unhonay mujhe sapne mein kaha ke main aapke paas aau. Aapse film banwau. Aapka naam Mahesh hai na?’ I said yes. He said, ‘Music ka bank hai mere paas. Anuradaji (Paudwal) humare company ke saath hai. Aapko jo gaane pasand hai aap le lijiye, ya naye banwalijie. Ek acchisi musical banadijiye. Main aapko promise karta hu, Hindustan kay konay konay mein main yeh gaane le jayunga. Har ghar mein bajwaunga. Badle mein, aap 50 per cent le lijiye.’ The simplicity and innocence with which he spoke was the beginning of Aashiqui. I distinctly remember I was shooting Dil Hai Ki Manta Nahin (1991) in Madhumalai forest (Tamil Nadu) with Aamir Khan and Pooja (Bhatt). In that forest, I heard one of the songs from Aashiqui playing. I turned to Pooja and said, ‘That man promised me that he will take the music across India."