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New Delhi . Taapsee Pannu's much-anticipated film Gandhari has been embroiled in controversies even before its release. Writer Kalyan Bandi has alleged copyright infringement regarding the story of the film. He claims that he had written a story under the name Gandhari in 2019 and had also registered it properly. Now he feels that the concept of Taapsee Pannu's upcoming film is very similar to the story written by him. Katha Pictures, the production house of the film's writer and producer Kanika Dhillon, however, has completely rejected these allegations and called Gandhari an original film.

According to Kalyan Bandi, he had prepared a story named Gandhari in the year 2019. The story revolves around a mother's life which takes a dangerous turn after she joins a child trafficking gang. He had contacted the then Voot officer Monica Shergill regarding this story. Kalyan says that he had sent him a story of about eight pages and a summary of two pages. After seeing the story, he was told that it did not fit with the company's plans at the time.

Kalyan claims that he had also registered his story and its gist with the Screenwriters Association. After this he continued working on his story for several years. In the year 2023, he also contacted Harman Baweja's studio and talks continued for several months regarding the story and screenplay. He also sent his story to Jio Hotstar.

The matter became serious when Taapsee Pannu's Gandhari was announced on Netflix in the year 2025. According to Kalyan, as soon as the name of the film came up, he remembered his old story. He started gathering information to the film and when he compared both the stories, he saw many similarities. After this he decided to take up the matter.

Kalyan says that he had also sent a legal notice in September 2025. In the notice, he had reportedly demanded compensation and credit for the use of the story. It has come to light that a compensation of around Rs 40 lakh has been demanded. However, the author says that his real objective is not to gain money. He wants that if his story is used then he should be given proper credit for it.

According to Kalyan, even after the notice he did not get any response. He claims that it was difficult for him to bear the expenses of a long-running legal battle so he did not take further action. He also said that for him recognition and credit for his work is more important than money.

Kanika Dhillon's production house Katha Pictures has completely rejected all the allegations. The production house says that Gandhari is a completely original film and its story and screenplay are Kanika Dhillon's own creation. The company has also appealed not to publish or share unconfirmed allegations as true. There was no official response from Netflix and Monica Shergill on this entire controversy till the time of writing the news.

Currently, this controversy that has come up before the release of Taapsee Pannu's Gandhari can further increase the audience's interest in the film. On one hand, the writers are demanding recognition and credit for their story, while on the other hand, the film team is calling the allegations of story theft completely false. In such a situation, now everyone's eyes are on whether any legal or official action is taken regarding this dispute in the coming days or not.