Actor-politician Kangana Ranaut's production house, Manikarnika Films, on Monday clarified that its film "Emergency" was only inspired and in no manner based on senior journalist and author Coomi Kapoor’s book "The Emergency: A Personal History".
The statement comes after Kapoor, whose book was published by Penguin in 2015, approached the Delhi High Court in April this year alleging blatant breach of the agreement regarding the book’s intellectual property rights for adaptation into a feature film.
She also accused the makers of the film of “multiple factual inaccuracies and misleading portrayals of historical events”.
Akshat Ranaut, the director of the production house, clarified the details in a public notice. "We, Manikarnika Films Pvt. Ltd., do hereby clarify that it was inadvertently mentioned in the credits of the film 'Emergency', that it is based on the book "The Emergency" by Ms. Coomi Kapoor. We hereby clarify that the film 'Emergency' is only inspired by the aforesaid book and is in no manner based on it," the notice read.
“Emergency”, released in January this year, featured Ranaut in the role of the late prime minister Indira Gandhi. Ranaut not only starred in the movie but also directed and produced it.
On Netflix, which is where the movie started streaming from March, the credits in the beginning included a disclaimer stating that it is “inspired by the books, 'The Emergency' by Coomi Kapoor and 'Priyadarshani’ by Jaiyanth Vasant Shinde”.
However, towards the end, the disclaimer shifts tone, stating that the film is “based on the books, ‘The Emergency’ by Coomi Kapoor and ‘Priyadarshani’ by Jaiyanth Vasant Shinde”, which Kapoor argued directly contradicts the terms of their agreement.
The clarification from Akshat Ranaut, who is also the brother of actor and MP Kangana Ranaut, is part of a settlement between Manikarnika Films, Kapoor, and Netflix, reached through mediation under the Delhi High Court.
As part of the agreement, the production house’s rights to Kapoor’s book have also been terminated.
The case was disposed of on Monday by Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav following the mediation held on October 13, 2025. The other details of the agreement were not disclosed.
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