Kangana Ranaut and Netflix sued by author and senior journalist for historical inaccuracies in Emergency

Kangana Ranaut in Emergency

Kangana Ranaut's production company, Manikarnika Films, and the OTT platform Netflix have received a legal notice from author and journalist Coomi Kapoor for alleged historical inaccuracies in the recently released film Emergency. Kapoor also accused them of breaching a contract and damaging her reputation by claiming that the film is based on her book The Emergency: A Personal History.

The film's disclaimer states that the events depicted are based on two books - Coomi Kapoor's The Emergency and Priyadarshini by Jaiyanth Vasanth Sinha.

Kangana Ranaut and Netflix receive notice

Kapoor claimed that Emergency is filled with "historical inaccuracies" and that the blame is being unfairly attributed to her book. She sent legal notices to Kangana Ranaut and her brother Aksht Ranaut, the producer of the film.

According to Kapoor, Aksht had met her in Mumbai in 2021 to secure the rights to use a single chapter from her book focusing on former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. She stated that she signed a tripartite agreement with Manikarnika Films and Penguin (her book's publisher), which included two key clauses: her name and book could not be used for promotion or publicity without her written consent.

"I had specifically told them not to use the term ‘based on,' but they still did," Kapoor said, adding that she was never shown the film's script.

While acknowledging that filmmakers often take creative liberties, Kapoor emphasized that "no details should be altered if they don't align with well-documented historical facts available in the public domain."

Kapoor also pointed out that the term "based on" was only added after the film's release on Netflix. "When the film was released in theatres, I checked media articles and they all used the word ‘inspired,' so I was fine with it. But when I recently watched it on Netflix, it said ‘based on' towards the end. In order to give credibility to their work, they used my name," she said.

Coomi Kapoor's The Emergency, published by Penguin in 2015, offers a detailed account of the 1975-77 Emergency period in India.

What are the inaccuracies in Emergency according to Kapoor?

Kapoor claimed that one of the inaccuracies is that the film incorrectly shows Akbar Ahmed as the person who banned Kishore Kumar's songs. In her book, she attributed this decision to then Information & Broadcasting Minister V.C. Shukla.

Kapoor said she was confronted by Ahmed about the depiction, and had to clarify that her book never made such claims. "He wasn't the only one - many people have called me saying, ‘What have you written in the book?'" she added.

Other alleged errors include the depiction of journalist Nikhil Chakravartty's imprisonment and the misrepresentation of the Emergency's timeline.