Kangana Ranaut received legal notice of “distorted facts” in an emergency, and the author threatened to sue her for breach of contract: “If you don’t…”
Emergency author Coomi Kapoor accused Kangana Ranaut of production house Manikarnika’s film “Many de facto inaccuracies and misleading historical events” in the 2025 political film “Emergy” which was headlined by Ranaut in her solo debut.
Kangana Ranaut gets into legal trouble in emergency situations
After the controversial film emergency of actor and BJP MP Kangana Ranaut was once again in trouble, senior journalist and writer Coomi Kapoor accused her production company, Manikarnika Films Private Limited and Netflix’s Netflix and “deliberate and maliciously distort the facts” by claiming the film is based on an emergency and exploiting her name based on her name, her Emergency: Personal History: Personal History. Kapoor’s book was published by Penguin in 2015, claiming that a tripartite agreement was signed between Manikarnika Movie, Penguin and herself, involving the intellectual property rights of the book to fit a feature film to a “blatant violation.” She accused the producer of the film of “a variety of facts and a misleading portrayal of historical events.”
“My daughter is a lawyer, so, according to her advice, I included two terms. Although the producers had complete artistic freedom to make the film, nothing could be changed that contradicted the historical facts that were publicly available,” Kapoor explained. “The contract also states that the author’s name and book could not be used to promote or utilize the film without prior written consent. I was in Goa, and I did not watch the film at the time, and thought they would respect the contract. But they still claimed that the film was based on the book.”
To support her point of view, Kapoor quoted her August 2023 exchange with Kangana Ranaut’s brother, Manikarnika Films, who repeatedly stressed that the contract must be followed and that the phrase “based on her book” should not be used, despite the citation of the books in the Source Source Section section. “Aksht answered and agreed to these terms during the conversation,” she said. The movie emergency on Netflix included a disclaimer that it was “inspired by the books, the emergency of Coomi Kapoor and the emergency of Jaiyanth Vasant Shinde”. However, by the end, the disclaimer shifted his tone, pointing out that the film was “based on books, the emergency of Coomi Kapoor and the emergency of Jaiyanth Vasant Shinde”, which Kapoor believes is directly inconsistent with the terms of their agreement.
The author further noted that when signing the agreement, she was told that only specific chapters of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in her book would refer to the film. However, she was surprised to find that the title of the film was similar to her book. “Now, this seems like part of you trying to get the appeal of the film, especially because it suffered from ruthless remarks,” said Kapoor’s legal notice to the filmmakers. The author notes that the film contains many historical inaccuracies, far exceeding what is detailed in the legal notice. There is one scene in which Gandhi personally threatened then-President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed to declare an emergency without consulting his cabinet and implying that the emergency ended when the election was announced.
The legal notice said: “In fact, it was not until after Mrs. Indira Gandhi lost her general election in March 1977 that the emergency was removed.” On June 25, 1975, Gandhi declared a state of emergency in the country, suspended civil liberties, imprisoned opposition leaders and dissidents, and conducted a press censorship system. The emergency was lifted on March 21, 1977. Other distortions highlighted in the legal notice include Jayaprakash Narayan’s 1974 Revolutionary Movement and Gandhi’s 1972 Shimla Agreement and inaccurate portrayals and arrests and imprisonment by political leaders during emergencies.
PTI tried to contact Kangana Ranaut’s sister and manager Rangoli Chandel for comment, but she didn’t. According to Kapoor, Aksht Ranaut contacted her by phone after the media reported the issue. “Yes, he (Aksht) called. I told him ‘You never had this time.’ He asked me, “What do you want?” “I told him I’d talk to my lawyer.”
However, according to the notice, Kapoor demands immediate compensation for serious reputation, professional, emotional and financial damages suffered due to the recklessness and illegal conduct of the filmmaker. “If you do not comply, our client reserves the right to initiate legal proceedings to seek appropriate measures to violate her rights,” the notice said.
The emergency was also directed and produced by Kangana Ranaut, which earlier disputed its allegations of reviewing certificates and allegations that misrepresented the Sikh community. It was not screened in cinemas in Punjab after protests by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) and other Sikh organizations.
Apart from the title, DNA staff has not edited this story and published it from PTI
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