'Akshay Kumar stole Mission Mangal script, Vidya Balan complicit in theft' - Accuses academic

While Akshay Kumar's Mission Mangal has been running successfully at theatres, the actor has been accused of stealing the script of the film from film-maker Radha Bharadwaj.

Academic and writer, Madhupurnima Kishwar recently made a tweet, accusing Akshay and co-star Vidya Balan of stealing the script of Radha Bharadwaj's Space Moms to make Mission Mangal.

In her tweet, Kishwar claimed that Bharadwaj had written and got the script copyrighted much before Mission Mangal was planned. She slammed Akshay and Vidya for the alleged act of stealing the script.

"Disgraceful that @AkshayKumar who flaunts patriotism & concern for women STOLE copyrighted script of #MangalMission from script of #SPACEMOMs by @radhabharadwaj . She shared script with me soon after Mars Mission to help her raise funds. Sadly @vidya_balan is complicit in theft," Kishwar tweeted.

Director of Space Moms, which was based on the same subject of India's Mars Orbiter Mission, Radha Bharadwaj had last year directly made the same allegations. The director had stated that she had shared the script of Space Moms with producer Atul Kasbekar's company in 2016 to get potential financiers of her film.

She had also claimed that she had an agreement with the firm that content of the script will not be shared with anyone without her written permission. Nonetheless, she claimed that Kasbekar in an email had admitted that it was shared with Vidya Balan. Bharadwaj had stated that the script was registered under the US Copyright Office.

Meanwhile, Mission Mangal has become one of the biggest hits of Akshay. The film has already crossed Rs 100 crore mark at the Indian box office, and is heading fast to reach Rs 150 crore. Directed by Jagan Shakti, the film also features Sonakshi Sinha, Sharman Joshi, Kirti Kulhari, Taapsee Pannu, Nithya Menen among others.