Woman Director Moves HC Against Akshay Kumar's 'Mission Mangal' Over Copyright
A woman director has approached the Bombay High Court against an upcoming film Mission Mangal starring Akshay Kumar and Vidya Balan, claiming copyright infringement.
A
woman
director
has
approached
the
Bombay
High
Court
against
an
upcoming
film
Mission
Mangal
starring
Akshay
Kumar
and
Vidya
Balan,
claiming
copyright
infringement.
Mission
Mangal
is
being
touted
as
India's
first
space
film.
Radha
Bharadwaj
on
Wednesday
filed
a
suit
seeking
a
stay
on
the
production
and
release
of
the
movie,
which
is
about
India's
2014
Mars
Orbiter
Mission
(MOM),
also
known
as
Mangalyaan.
Earlier
this
month,
actor
Akshay
Kumar
had
announced
that
he
was
jointly
producing
with
Fox
Star
Studios
and
Cape
of
Good
Films
a
movie
titled
Mission
Mangal
on
the
Mars
mission.
The
film
will
be
directed
by
Jagan
Shakti
and
its
shoot
will
begin
this
month.
Apart
from
Kumar
and
Balan
in
the
lead
roles,
the
movie
will
also
star
Sonakshi
Sinha,
Taapsee
Pannu
and
others.
In
her
suit,
Bharadwaj
claims
that
the
movie
infringes
on
the
copyright
of
her
original
screenplay
titled
'Space
MOMs'.
According
to
the
suit,
Bharadwaj
had
given
her
screenplay
to
producer
Atul
Kasbekar
in
2016.
Kasbekar's
company
signed
a
non-disclosure
agreement
that
prohibited
them
from
disclosing
Bharadwaj's
project
to
anyone
without
her
prior
written
consent.
In
her
suit,
Bharadwaj
said
she
later
came
to
know
that
Kasbekar
had
showed
the
script
to
Balan.
Irked
at
this,
Bharadwaj
cancelled
her
agreement.
The
suit
claimed
that
Bharadwaj
had
registered
her
screenplay
with
the
US
Copyright
Officein
2016
after
the
Indian
Space
Research
Organisation
(ISRO)
had
notified
her
of
its
support
for
her
movie
and
arranged
for
her
to
interview
several
of
its
engineers.
The
suit
is
likely
to
come
up
for
hearing
in
the
due
course
of
time.