Manikarnika Returns row: Kangana Ranaut served legal notice, author demands reply within 72 hrs

Kangana Ranaut announced her next film titled Manikarnika Returns: The Legend of Didda that is hugely based on the warrior Queen of Kashmir Didda. It seems that Kangana's one of the most anticipated films Manikarnika Returns: The Legend of Didda is in troubled waters. 

Hours after announcing the film author Ashish Kaul had accused Kangana and makers of Manikarnika Returns: The Legend of Didda of copyright violation and claimed that the movie is based on his book Didda - Kashmir Ki Yodha Rani.

Author Ashish Kaul calls Kangana Ranaut's film 'violation of copyright laws of the country that she swears by

 On Friday the author Ashish Kaul accused Kangana Ranaut of copyright infringement and claimed that it is based on his book.

The author has claimed that he has the exclusive copyrights to the story of Didda and had approached the actor to write a foreword for the Hindi version of the book in September last year but never got a reply from her or her then manager, Rangoli Chandel. 

In an interview with TOI, the author said:

Is it believable by any stretch of the imagination that a story and a book is being usurped by a renowned actor-turned-social activist? She may even turn around and claim that Didda is a historical figure, which is true except the fact that no historian in the world, apart from Kalhan who wrote just two pages on her, and me, who has spent six years on research and documentation, who have information on her. I am deeply aghast that a person as aware, knowledgeable, and apparently a nationalist and a voice for causes, has chosen to belittle her image so.

Kangana has blatantly violated my sole rights; it is illegal and an absolute violation of the IPR and copyright laws of the same country that she swears by. I find it so brazen and hideous and I am still inclined to believe that Kangana has been misguided.

Check his Tweet below:

Author of 'Didda-Kashmir Ki Yodha Rani' sends a legal notice to Kangana Ranaut; demands a reply within 72 hours.

In his notice, Ashish has sought Kangana's reply within 72 hours, failing which, legal action would be initiated against the actress.

The notice read as:

Our Client was further appalled to discover that the nature and treatment of the character of Didda in the Proposed Film, was identical to the Narrative Text, the Book and the information communicated by Our Client in his e-mail of 11 September 2020. To add further insult to injury, Kangana Ranaut and Kamal Kumar Jain have since issued public statements alleging that their proposed Film is not based on the Book. It is re-iterated that the description of Didda as identified by Kangana Ranaut to promote the Film is identical to as set out in the Book.

The author claims to suffer from mental anguish.

Our Client has been trolled and abused by Kangana Ranaut fans on Twitter and has suffered extreme mental anguish on account of such false denunciations. It is unfortunate that Our Client, an established and published author and one of the few leading authorities on Didda in the world, is being needlessly harassed due to the actions of Ms Kangana Ranaut and Mr Kamal Kumar Jain. Our Client further risks financial losses as he has been in conversation with major producers and studios to produce a film based on the book and the script, which has been registered since 2017. The actions and representations of Ms Kangana Ranaut, Mr Kamal Kumar and Ms Rangoli Ranaut will severely impact all opportunities of commercial exploitation of the Narrative Text, the Book, and the Script by Kaul.

The team of Manikarnika Returns is yet to reply to the notice.

Producer Kamal Jain denies the author's claim that the Kangana Ranaut starrer Manikarnika Returns is based on his book Didda-Kashmir Ki Yodha Rani.

In his recent interaction with ABP, Kamal has claimed that Manikarnika Returns: The Legend of Didda is not related to Ashish Kaul's book. He stated.

This story is 1000 year old and is available in the public domain. It is wrong to claim that our movie is based on Kaul's book. The movie has no connection with the book. When a story is this old and is available in the public domain, then anyone can make a movie on it. Speaking about Ashish Kaul's book, I have not even heard of the book, let alone reading it. Besides, one can google about Didda and there is ample information available about her. Our movie is not inspired by Kaul's book at all.

About the film, Manikarnika Returns The Legend of Didda.

The sequel will reportedly tell the true story of Didda, who was the Queen of Kashmir and defeated Mehmood Ghaznavi twice. Despite being struck by polio in one leg, she was one of the greatest warriors. The film is slated to go on floors in January 2021.