Prabina Mohanty, widow of the legendary singer, composer, writer and actor Akshaya Mohanty, has served a notice to film director Sushant Mani and the producer of an upcoming film for having announced a film on the late singer’s life.
Accusing Mani of not announcing the film without taking requisite permission under the laws of intellectual property, Prabina Mohanaty has asked the former not to go ahead with the film.
Based on media reports on the proposed script for the film which apparently has three heroines, she has taken strong exception to what she has called an attempt to cast aspersions on the personal life of her late husband. The bid to make a film on a legend without permission was illegal, she has contended in her legal notice sent through senior High Court lawyer Prabhat Ranjan Das.
Mani had recently announced the launch of the film Smruti Tume based on the life and work of Akshaya Mohanty. Ollywood star Siddhant Mohapatra, who is also a BJD MP, would play the role of the iconic singer, composer in the film that had four heroines, he had said.
In her notice to Mani and the producer of the film, Prabina Mohanty has said an Akshaya Mohanty Trust was formed after the death of her husband on November 7, 2002. Most people who have organised programmes or events on his life have taken permission from the trust.
She said her family had taken legal recourse in cases where people sought to make commercial use of the name, songs and music of her husband. Describing the launch of the film on his life without permission as “most unfortunate”, she has asked Mani to desist from going ahead with the film. If he fails to do so, she has threatened to take legal recourse.
She has sent copies of the legal notice to the secretary of the Utkal Cine Chamber of Commerce and the chairperson of the Censor Board centre at Cuttack.
