The Khar (Bombay) police are in the process of registering an FIR against Kangana Ranaut in a copyright complaint filed by Ashish Kaul, author of Didda: The Warrior Queen Of Kashmir. A court in Bombay has asked the city police to register an offence against the actress after Ashish Kaul accused her of copyright violation.
Kaul’s book has been translated into Hindi as Kashmir Ki Yoddha Rani Didda. It is his plea that although he holds the exclusive copyrights to the life story of Didda, Kangana had infringed on his copyright by attempting to make a film, Manikarnika Returns: The Legend Of Didda, based on her life. Didda was the princess of Lohar (Poonch), now in Jammu and Kashmir, and the queen of Kashmir. According to Ashish Kaul, who is a descendant of the queen, “It is believable by any stretch of imagination that a story and a book are being usurped by a renowned actor-turned-social activist.”
According to Kaul, Didda is his family’s legacy. He says that there is only one book in the whole world which mentions queen Didda, and that is Rajatarangini which speaks about the history of Kashmir. It has two pages devoted to Didda. The same, he adds, has been taken forward by various other historians, and the other books carry forward the errors of Rajatarangini inasmuch as they refer to queen Didda as being of immoral character. Obviously, therefore, he explains, she is drawing from his book on the queen. “If Kangana Ranaut says that Didda was a great nationalist and fighter, she is stating facts available in only one book which is authored by me, but she is refusing to acknowledge that,” he concludes.