Senior Journalist Sued Kangana Ranaut's Production House and Netflix, Accused of Misusing Facts in the Film "Emergency"

The Central Board of Film Certification banned the release of Kangana's film Emergency in September 2024.

New Delhi: Senior journalist and author Coomi Kapoor has filed a case in the Delhi High Court against Kangana Ranaut's production company Manikarnika Films and streaming platform Netflix. Kangana Ranaut's film Emergency is based on Coomi Kapoor's book "Emergency: A Personal History". The author alleges that her book was misused in the film 'Emergency'. Kangana violated the contract and historical facts were distorted, which damaged her reputation.

It is based on the Emergency of 1975-77, when the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi imposed emergency in the country. In the film Emergency, Kangana plays the role of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and is also a co-producer and director. The film was released in theaters on 17 January 2025 and is streaming on Netflix from 14 March 2025.

Coomi Kapoor's book "The Emergency: A Personal History" was published by Penguin in 2015.

The disclaimer displayed at the beginning of the film states that it is inspired by Coomi Kapoor's book 'The Emergency' and Jayant Vasant Sinha's 'Priyadarshini'. Apart from this, it also includes material available in the public domain. Coomi Kapoor has strongly objected to this claim. However, at the end of the disclaimer on Netflix, it is said that the film is based on two books. Even after giving a legal notice, no changes have been made to the disclaimer on the Netflix platform.

Coomi Kapoor sent a legal notice to Manikarnika Films and Netflix on 3 April 2025, demanding the removal of the disclaimer and stopping the mention of her book. When no action was taken despite two notices, Kapoor decided to file a case in the Delhi High Court. Her lawyers said, 'The facts were deliberately and maliciously distorted in the film, which violated the rights of our client and damaged her reputation.'

Coomi Kapoor has given detailed and authentic information about the Emergency period in her book published by Penguin in 2015. She says that the facts of his book were misrepresented in the film. She told The Telegraph, 'I foolishly allowed them to use my book because they said they would only use one chapter. But all the chapters were used in the film and the facts were misrepresented.' Kapoor also said that Indira Gandhi's life is in the public domain, but it is not right to present wrong facts by citing her book.

Coomi Kapoor had signed a tripartite contract between Manikarnika Films, her book's publisher Penguin and herself in 2021, in which Kangana's brother Akshat Ranaut had sought permission to use a chapter of her book. The contract had two important conditions: first, historical facts will not be distorted in the film and second, Kapoor's name and her book will not be used for publicity without her written consent.

Kapoor alleges that Manikarnika Films violated both these conditions. Her complaint mentions six major historical inaccuracies. For example, the film showed that Indira Gandhi personally threatened President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed to declare the Emergency without a cabinet meeting, which is wrong. Journalist Nikhil Chakraborty was shown arrested during the Emergency, while he never went to jail. Sanjay Gandhi's friend Akbar Ahmed was said to be responsible for banning Kishore Kumar's songs on All India Radio, while in Kapoor's book this responsibility was of the then Information and Broadcasting Minister V.C. Shukla.

Kapoor says that she was never shown the script of the film. Even before the production of the film was completed, she sent two WhatsApp messages to Kangana's brother Akshat Ranaut, as he did not respond to her repeated calls. Kapoor says that she had sent a WhatsApp message to Kangana in 2023 asking her not to use the word "based on", which Kangana assured to follow, but later ignored it.

According to reports, Manikarnika Films responded to Coomi Kapoor's notice on April 10, claiming that her book was not the sole source and that she had the right to take creative freedom. However, there has been no public statement from the production company and Netflix in this matter yet.