Jewellery designer cries foul against Akbar Khan
- IndiaGlitz, [Wednesday,November 09 2005]
He has designed jewellery for some really big Hindi films in the past. And now the entire cast of Akbar Khan's "Taj Mahal" is wearing the opulent jewels designed by Tejas Jogani.
But Jogani was shocked when the book "The Making Of Taj Mahal" carried no mention of his contribution to Khan's film in the credits section.
"Shocked and hurt, I rang up Akbar Khan. He told me it's too late to rectify the error. But he promised me full projection in his next project 'Changez Khan'. I declined the offer. 'Changez Khan baad me dekhenge'. (We'll see about Changez Khan later.) Right now I want to be credited for my work in 'Taj Mahal'.
"Even a wig maker gets full credit for his work. How can the jewellery designer be treated so badly? They owe me some money also. But I don't think I'll get my money. All I want is credit. I left so many big projects to do this one."
Moaned Jogani: "Normally I wouldn't complain about not being credited. But in 'Taj Mahal' Akbar Khan made me design for every character. I've bills for each actress - Manisha Koirala, Pooja Batra, Kim Sharma, even the hero Zulfi Sayed... and cheques issued by Akbar Khan to prove it.
"An item by me called Mother Of Pearls has been made 10 times for the film. It serves as a character in the film. After all this, he has credited Anna Singh with designing the jewellery! How can he do this?" asked an indignant Jogani.
"Everyone in the unit knows I've made the jewels. Anna Singh has designed the costumes. I've a reputation within the film industry to back my claims. I've designed jewellery for big projects like 'Chandni', 'Lamhe' and 'Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham'. I don't need publicity of this kind."