Row over Kangana's 'Emergency’: Author Coomi Kapoor alleges distortion of facts, contract breach

ACTOR and BJP MP Kangana Ranaut's controversial film, "Emergency", has landed in trouble once again after senior journalist and author Coomi Kapoor accused her production house, Manikarnika Films Private Limited, and Netflix of "intentionally and maliciously distorting facts" and exploiting her name by claiming that the film is based on her book, "The Emergency: A Personal History”.

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Kapoor, whose book was published by Penguin in 2015, has claimed that the tripartite agreement signed between Manikarnika Films, Penguin and herself regarding the book's intellectual property rights for adaption into a feature film has been "blatantly breached".

She has accused the makers of the film of “multiple factual inaccuracies and misleading portrayals of historical events”.

"My daughter is a lawyer, so on her advice, I had included two clauses. While the producers had full artistic freedom to create the film, nothing should be altered that contradicts historical facts that are publicly available," Kapoor explained.

"The contract also stated that the author's name and book could not be used for promoting or exploiting the film without prior written consent. I was in Goa and had not seen the film at the time, believing that they would honour the contract. But they are still claiming that the film is based on the book," she said, adding that she has already sent two legal notices, but received no response.

To buttress her point, Kapoor cited her August, 2023 WhatsApp exchange with Kangana Ranaut's brother, Aksht Ranaut of Manikarnika Films, in which she repeatedly emphasised that the contract must be followed and that the phrase "based on her book" should not be used, though referencing the book in the sources section is acceptable.