On June 14, After Hrs reported that Akshaye Khanna was to be allegedly thrown out from 'Section 375: Marzi Ya Jabardasti' because the actor was dilly-dallying over dates, asking for changes in the script and supposedly even asked for a fee hike! After long delays, producer Kumar Mangat and writer-director Manish Gupta (Rahasya), who were said to be miffed with the star son’s working style, had apparently decided to oust him from the movie.
However, now we hear that quite a few developments have taken place. This time around it seems like the producer and director are at war with one another. And the latter has now decided to sue the former for wrongful termination of his contract. We also hear that Akshaye Khanna is back in the project and Priyadarshan has been roped in to helm it instead of Gupta.
An industry insider tells us that things started souring between the producer and the writer-director a while ago. “After working on the script for two years and waiting for seven months post signing the contract with Kumar Mangat and his company, there was no progress on Section 375. That’s when Manish started getting restless. First, Akshaye delayed by giving priority to The Accidental Prime Minister and then of course, he was trying to get his terms revised.
However, Kumar Mangat didn’t reason with him or try to salvage the situation and instead let the matter escalate. Eventually, Manish expressed his opinion to exit the setup and move on with his script to making it with another producer,” says our source, adding that this didn’t go down well with Mangat.
Our source adds, “Kumar didn’t want to let go of the script and on May 21, issued a Termination Notice to Manish, who owns the copyright/IPR (Intellectual Property Right) of the script. It is Kumar’s desperate attempt to put all the blame on Manish. Having worked hard on it for over two years, Manish isn’t giving up on what is rightfully his. Incidentally, on June 7, he learnt that director Shivam Nair was given the script, without his (Manish’s credit) to helm the movie. That’s not all, he also learnt that various third parties had got copies of Manish’s script with his name removed. So, on June 15 he issued a Legal Notice to Kumar Mangat and his company and is petitioning the Bombay High Court to uphold his right to declare his agreement with Kumar Mangat and his company as ‘Null and Void’. Moreover, he should be allowed to move on and make the film with another producer without any interference by Kumar and his company.”We tried contacting Manish, but he was unavailable for comment.
When contacted, Kumar maintained that he had terminated the contract. He stated, “I got complaints against Manish by my team, in writing, about how he was being high-handed and ill-treating them, making them wait till late night. In our agreements, it was clear that if he indulged in any nonsensical behaviour, it won’t be tolerated. Due to his bad attitude and behaviour with the with the team, I have terminated the contract and asked him to exit the project.”
When probed about making the film with Priyadarshan at the helm, Kumar added, “That’s a different subject that we’re making. As far as Section 375 is concerned, we are looking to sign an appropriate director. Akshaye Khanna and Richa Chadha are very much a part of it. Also, as per the contract, I have the rights to the script.”
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 "Akshaye Khanna, Manish Gupta and Kumar Mangat")
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