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Vishal Bhardwaj’s ‘Rangoon’ lands in legal trouble

Vishal Bhardwaj’s ‘Rangoon’ is facing legal trouble. The director and makers of the film have been accused of copyright infringement of Kangna Ranaut’s character Julia being based on 1940s Bollywood stunt actress Mary Evans, also known as Fearless Nadia.

According to Mid-Day, film production firm Wadia Movietone Pvt. Ltd. filed the commercial suit against the filmmaker.  Roy Wadia, states his firm holds the sole rights to production and film rights on projects relating to Nadia.  According to Wadia, ‘Rangoon’ infringes these rights by basing Ranaut’s character on Nadia, including costume, poses and phrases synonymous with her.  Furthermore sources from the set state Ranaut was instructed to watch ‘Hunterwali’ (1935) which starred Nadia as a stuntwoman to reference her style and dressing for ‘Rangoon’.

What makes it more interesting is the fact that Wadia and Bhardwaj were linked with a project based on Nadia’s life a few years back.  The project however didn’t materialise due to casting issues and was put on the back-burner, until recently when it was allegedly revived as ‘Rangoon’.  However Wadia’s firm were not consulted ahead of the film.

Bhardwaj has previously stated that ‘Rangoon’ doesn’t draw on Nadia’s character but is a love story set in the 1940s.

Stay tuned to BizAsiaLive.com for further updates.