Days before its September 3 release, Netflix’s Gandhari, starring Taapsee Pannu, has landed in a copyright dispute.
Mumbai-based writer Kalyan Bandi has publicly alleged that the film draws from a story and title he says he developed years earlier. Kanika Dhillon’s production house Kathha Pictures and Netflix have both rejected the allegation and maintained that the film is an original work.
What Kalyan Bandi Alleges
Bandi, an IIT Madras alumnus who works as an Inspector with Central GST and Customs, says he wrote an eight-page story and a two-page synopsis titled Gandhari in 2019 and registered the material with the Screenwriters Association.
According to his account, he contacted Monika Shergill on LinkedIn that year, when she was with Voot, and shared the story with her. He says the pitch was acknowledged but ultimately not commissioned because it did not fit the platform’s slate at the time.
Bandi says he continued developing the project afterwards and later approached Baweja Studios and JioHotstar before Netflix announced its own Gandhari.
His claim is not simply that the two projects share a broad theme. He alleges that the Netflix film draws from the central idea and title of the story he says he had already developed.
What Similarities He Claims
Bandi describes his original pitch as the story of a mother who takes on a fierce, goddess-like persona while trying to rescue her child from a trafficking racket.
Netflix’s Gandhari, directed by Devashish Makhija and written and produced by Kanika Dhillon, follows Bani, played by Taapsee Pannu, as she searches for her kidnapped daughter in the fictional town of Joypurra.
Bandi points to the maternal-rescue premise and the shared title as the basis of his objection.
Those similarities are his allegation. They have not been independently adjudicated or established as plagiarism or copyright infringement.
Bandi also says he sent a legal notice in September 2025 seeking compensation and screen credit.
“I don’t even want money. Just say thank you and acknowledge that it was my idea. I’ll be very happy if they can prove to me that this is not my story,” he has said.
Kanika Dhillon and Kathha Pictures Respond
Kathha Pictures has rejected the allegations outright.
The production house said Gandhari is an original work written and produced by Kanika Dhillon and developed by Kathha Pictures, while asking media and digital platforms not to repeat the allegations as established fact.
Dhillon also addressed the controversy at the film’s trailer launch.
She said she understood why another writer might raise concerns but maintained that she had never met Bandi and did not know his creative journey.
“You know, I’m a writer myself first and then a producer, so I totally respect somebody’s sentiments. But in this particular case, I’ve never met the writer, and I don’t know their journey,” she said.
Dhillon reiterated that Gandhari was an original script and said she hoped audiences would judge the film after watching it.
Netflix Responds
At the same trailer launch, Ruchikaa Kapoor Sheikh, Director of Original Films at Netflix India, said the streamer takes originality and artistic attribution seriously.
She said Netflix receives multiple pitches and that “the pitch in question is very different” from the Gandhari made by Dhillon and Pannu.
Kapoor Sheikh also reiterated Netflix’s commitment to backing original storytellers, whether they are established filmmakers or working on their first project.
What Is Established — and What Remains an Allegation
A few elements are publicly documented through the competing statements and reporting around the dispute.
Bandi says he developed and registered a story titled Gandhari in 2019, shared it with Monika Shergill while she was at Voot, later pitched it elsewhere, and subsequently sent a legal notice seeking credit and compensation.
Kathha Pictures and Netflix, meanwhile, have gone on record denying that the film now releasing is derived from his pitch.
What has not been established by a court, arbitrator or independent adjudicatory process is whether Netflix’s Gandhari copies protected expression from Bandi’s work or otherwise amounts to plagiarism or copyright infringement.
For now, that remains a contested allegation — one that has moved from a private creative grievance into a public dispute just days before the film’s release.
