Akshay Kumar’s Mars Mission Movie Is Being Alleged To Be A Stolen Carbon Copy

Jyothi Venkatesh

A lawsuit seeking to halt production and release of Mission Mangal, a film that would star Akshay Kumar and Vidya Balan about India’s 2014 Mangalyaan Mars Mission, was filed in Mumbai recently by award-winning filmmaker Radha Bharadwaj. Radha alleges that Mission Mangal infringes on the copyright of her original screenplay—which Vidya Balan read last year after producer Atul Kasbekar’s company gave it to her. Radha recently finished shooting a film based on her screenplay, now entitled Space MOMs. She believes that Mission Mangal is being rushed into production in order to cripple the commercial prospects for Space MOMs.

Srishti Ojha, founder of Verist Law which is advising Radha on this dispute, outlined the basis for Radha’s lawsuit. “There are hundreds of ways to tell the story of Mangalyaan, but Radha came up with the unique angle of focusing on the women engineers,” says Srishti. Radha wrote her screenplay and registered it with the U.S. Copyright Office in 2016, after the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) had notified Radha of its support for her movie and arranged for Radha to interview several of its engineers.

In 2016, Radha was set to work with Atul Kasbekar’s production company to find financing for her film. Kasbekar’s company signed a non-disclosure agreement that prohibited them from disclosing Radha’s project to anyone without Radha’s prior written consent. Kasbekar also happens to be Vidya Balan’s manager. The lawsuit cites an email from Kasbekar’s team admitting, after the fact, that they had given Radha’s script to Balan and confirming that Vidya Balan had read it. Radha terminated her relationship with Atul Kasbekar’s company shortly thereafter and found funding for her film elsewhere.

 The lawsuit fundamentally makes the following allegations against Atul Kasbekar’s company: Radha only agreed to disclose her project to Kasbekar’s team after they signed a contract in which they promised to take extensive precautions to protect Radha’s idea from being copied by others. Not only did Kasbekar’s team violate the contract, but they shared Radha’s script with Vidya Balan, their client, who is now doing another film that uses Radha’s idea. Kasbekar’s team even negotiated the deal for Vidya Balan’s new movie.

The suit cites numerous media reports suggesting that the Mission Mangal filmmakers are rushing their film into production. Press reports initially indicated that Mission Mangal would start filming in 2019, and it was recently reported that the Mission Mangal team was preparing to interview ISRO scientists and would complete their script after that. But shortly after those reports, it was reported that filming would begin this month and that the film would be released on August 15, 2019. “The fact that they appear to be scrambling to catch up to me seems to be an acknowledgement that their project is the same as mine,” says Radha. “They seem to think that rushing their film into production  with a blaze of publicity will discourage any distributor from releasing my film. Why else would they be putting out so much publicity so far in advance?”   I’ll bet the full details of the origin of this project were not known to Akshay Kumar, Vijay Singh of Fox Star or its U.S. parents. But now they know it, and I ask them to act honorably, I have documentation going back to 2014 on my efforts to bring this story and my vision to screen.

 “My film is a celebration of women, of India, and of India’s ancient heritage of scientific achievement and female empowerment,” said Radha, who was born and raised in Chennai. “It was conceived, written and directed by a woman. My film has a female producer and a female financier and executive producer. All of the lead actors are women. And now the Bollywood Boys Club, with its female enablers, wants to shove all these women aside and grab this project for a male producer, male director, and male star, all trying to show how supportive they are of women. There’s a reason that the ‘Me Too’ scandal is detonating in Bollywood. The conduct I’m seeing from the Bollywood Boys Club arises from the same sexist mindset that devalues women. They’re acting as if I don’t exist, as if my voice doesn’t matter, as if they can take my project from me and get away with it. But I will not be bullied and I will not be silenced.”

Srishti notes that the defendants’ actions could have broader implications for India. “The Indian government wants overseas citizens of India like Radha, as well as foreigners, to invest in India. If people like Radha can be treated like this with impunity, it will damage India’s international reputation. The outcome of this case will hopefully create a culture shift towards greater fairness and equality in the Indian film sector.”

The lawsuit alleges further that even the publicity being done for Mission Mangal seems to be copied from the announcement of Radha’s movie. Space MOMs was publicly announced on September 8, 2018, at a speech by Radha’s husband David which is available online. In his speech, Radha’s husband said that Space MOMs “is the story of women who are at the same time ordinary and extraordinary.” On November 12, 2018, Akshay Kumar’s Twitter account tweeted that Mission Mangal was a “story of ordinary people with extraordinary dreams.” In his speech, Radha’s husband said that “people of all backgrounds will cheer as the underdog Space Moms race against the clockto achieve the impossible.”

The November 12 tweet from Akshay Kumar’s Twitter account described Mangalyaan as a “mission to achieve the impossible.” Radha’s husband repeatedly stressed the patriotic angle of Space MOMs, saying that it would make all Indians “feel proud of their country.” The Mission Mangal team is using very similar language of Indian patriotism and pride, and is emphasizing that their film will be released on Independence Day. David talked about how Radha had been inspired by a photo of ISRO employees celebrating the success of the Mars Mission, and how her movie would not be similar to the U.S. movie Hidden Figures. The same points have been made in the publicity forMission Mangal.

Radha discusses her passion for her new movie. “I have poured my heart and soul into telling the story of these remarkable women,” says Radha. “I have spent my savings, I have mortgaged my house, so that I could tell their story. I have shot a film that  captures their indominable spirit. It is a film that will inspire Indians of all communities, all castes, all faiths, to be proud of their country. It is a film that Indian schoolchildren will hopefully be viewing for generations to come, so that they can learn about the great scientists from which they descend. It is a film that will inspire girls, and boys, to study science, technology, engineering and mathematics. It is a film that will cause people all over the world to gain a new respect for India, both ancient India and modern India. My film has a powerful message that is delivered in a way that Bollywood, with all due respect, could never deliver it,” said Radha. “It is a message that people are hungry for. I promised these scientists that I would treat their story with the dignity and respect it deserves.

“I have learned so much from the brilliant women of Mangalyaan,” says Radha. “They have taught me that underdogs can triumph against impossible odds, and that you can’t keep a determined woman down.”Radha, who has directed prominent actors like Sir Derek Jacobi and Alan Rickman and Oscar winners like Jared Leto, said that her title Space MOMs is a play on words. “The mission was referred to as the Mars Orbiter Mission, with the acronym MOM,” says Radha. “But many of these women are indeed working moms, just normal, middle class Indian women juggling their responsibilities at work and at home. These women are the products of their culture, and I relate to them because I grew up with women just like them,” said Radha. “Space MOMs is really a tribute to working women everywhere, who are all ‘Space Moms’ in their own way.”

For her first film, Closet Land, Radha won the Nicholl screenwriting award from the U.S. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences—the body that awards the Oscars. Two of Radha’s screenplays, Final Boarding and Delilah, were honored by the Writers Guild of America in consecutive years as part of their Features Access Project. Radha is a member of both the Writers Guild of America and the Directors Guild of America.

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