US-based filmmaker Radha Bharadwaj has filed a lawsuit alleging Mission Mangal, which is being produced by R Balki as well as Akshay Kumar and directed by Jagan Shakti, which is based on the screenplay of her venture, titled Space MOMs. Mission Mangal is inspired by the women scientists who worked on India’s 2014 Mars Orbiter Mission aka MOM. The cast comprises Akshay Kumar, Vidya Balan, Sonakshi Sinha and Taapsee Pannu among others.
Radha claims that she had registered her screenplay with the US Copyright Office in 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. Two years ago, she had begun talks with Atul Kasbekar’s company, Ellipsis Entertainment, to produce her movie. According to the filmmaker’s lawsuit, the production house claimed that they had shared the script with Vidya, who had read it. However, due to creative differences, Radha terminated her relationship with Ellipsis Entertainment and found funding for her film elsewhere.
She acknowledges that ‘the full details of the origin of this project were not known to Akshay Kumar, Fox Star (that is also backing Mission Mangal) or its US Parents’. But in her lawsuit, she alleges that Atul’s team violated the contract by sharing the script with Vidya, who is now a part of the cast of another film that is using her idea.
It also states that Atul’s team negotiated the deal for Balki’s film. Radha also claims that Mission Mangal is being rushed into production to jeopardise the commercial prospects of her project, Space MOMs.
“My film is a celebration of women, of India, and of India’s ancient heritage of scientific achievement and female empowerment,” says Radha, who was born and raised in Chennai. “It was conceived, written and directed by a woman. My film has a female producer and a female financier and executive producer. All of the lead actors are women. And now the Bollywood Boys Club, with its female enablers, wants to shove all these women aside and grab this project for a male producer, male director, and male star, all trying to show how supportive they are of women.” The lawsuit further alleges that even the publicity for Mission Mangal seems to be copied from that of Space MOMs, which was publicly announced on September 8, 2018.
However, Balki refutes Radha’s allegations. The filmmaker states, “Firstly, Atul Kasbekar does not even know of this project (Mission Mangal). And Jagan (director) and I met Vidya personally, not through him or anybody else. I don’t even know if Atul is her management person. We are not even aware who else had been approached with stories on Mangalyaan.”
The star cast of Mission Mangal — Sharman Joshi, Kirti Kulhari, Taapsee Pannu, Akshay Kumar, Vidya Balan, Sonakshi Sinha and Nithya Menon
Asserting that like every film based on a real-life incident, there are always many claimants, he adds, “I’m sure many scripts have been written on the Mars Orbiter Mission. But ours is an original screenplay that I have helped Jagan with. He has been living with this vision for three years! We have fictionalised a lot of characters to make it an interesting screenplay out of a core story that only ISRO can claim rights to. Nobody else. People can be upset with their interpretation of a story not being executed, but it is silly to try and stop another interpretation that is being executed.”
The PadMan director further says that Radha is welcome to read the script. He states, “She hasn’t even read it... how can she claim this? It’s very silly and wrong. Radha, please come over and read it. I’m sure you will find it fresh and refreshing.”
According to a well-placed industry source, “It’s wrong in every way to suggest that Atul’s team shared the idea with Balki. Why would one production house share a script that they weren’t making with another company? Most aspects of Mangalyaan mission are in the public domain. And anyone can come up with a script on any aspect.”
Reacting to Radha’s allegations, Tanuj Garg, Managing Partner, Ellipsis Entertainment, says, “Ellipsis is not connected with the film that is currently under production in any way. To allege that ‘we leaked the script is plain ridiculous, laughable and preposterous. In any event, the subject is in the public domain. We will take steps to defend us in accordance with the law.”
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 "R Balki and Radha Bharadwaj")
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