The warring 'Ram' & 'Lakshman'

The Mother Finally Becomes The Peacemaker

- RAGHAVENDRA KAMATH

THEIR MOTHER DESCRIBED their bond as akin to 'Ram' and 'Lakshman'. In a letter dated February 21 this year, parts of which found their way into newspapers, Manju Mangal Prabhat Lodha also said her friends wished they had sons like hers.

However, unlike the originals in the Ramayana, this 'Ram' and 'Lakshman' have followed a different script. The brotherly love gave way to a bitter court battle with each accusing the other of deceit, forgery and lying — all this in full public glare. The bickering finally ended on Monday after brothers Abhishek and Abhinandan Lodha agreed to resolve their dispute over usage of the Lodha brand name as per the court's suggestion of mediation.

But more than the court, observers say, the mother's firm tone in the letter did the trick. Her letter to her sons had come with a list of directives, including: "you will not say anything wrong about each other, you will not fight with each other and you will not interfere in any manner in each other's business". In that sense, it was a familiar script: the mother finally becomes the peacemaker, whether it's films or business families.

Abhishek and Abhinandan had separated in 2015 through a family settlement agreement initiated by their father Mangal Prabhat Lodha, India's eighth richest person, a full-time politician and now a minister in the Maharashtra cabinet. Under the agreement, Abhishek, 45, got the family's real estate