Tiger Shroff and director Sabbir Khan announced their third collaboration, 'Munna Michael', last week. But even before the film can go on the floors, the dance drama has attracted bad press. Kritik Kumar Pandey, a Mumbai-based amateur writer-director, has filed a police complaint, accusing the actor of stealing his script to make 'Munna Michael' based on a die-hard Michael Jackson follower.
Pandey alleges that he had shared his film’s script with Tiger, a self-confessed fan of the King of Pop, earlier this year and got him on board. “One of my team members, who had worked with Tiger for his last release, Baaghi, introduced me to him. We kept in touch through e-mail and WhatsApp, and then I discussed my script with him for a film titled MJ Return. He liked it and agreed to do it,” he claims.
Three months ago, Tiger allegedly asked Pandey to send him a pilot video. “I invested a lot of time and money to shoot the pilot and send it to him. We discussed casting, budget and locations. We were ready to take the project on the floors, but a few days later, he informed me of his unavailability. He said he was busy completing a dance film. However, last week, reports of him doing a film titled Munna Michael emerged. I was shocked to see that the concept, story and actor were the same except the director, of course,” he says.
Pandey says he has registered his script with the Film Writers Association. “I had sent Tiger a copy of my script which didn’t bear the association seal. He and his Munna Michael team lifted my story assuming that I have not safeguarded the copyright. But my story as well as title have been duly registered. Now I have filed a complaint with Versova police and will record my statement in a day or two,” he adds.
In his complaint, Pandey has named Tiger, Sabbir and four directors of CAA Kwan Talent Management Agency — Madhu Mantena, Anirban Das Blah, Caleb Isaac Franklin and David Moses Taghioff. Documents supporting Kritik’s claims are in mid-day’s possession.
Tiger chose not to respond to text messages while Sabbir says, “I have not met this person [Pandey] and don’t know him. Moreover, how does he know about my script when we are yet to roll out the film? If he feels we have lifted his concept, he is free to approach the court and we both can submit our respective scripts. I will accept whatever the judge’s verdict will be.”
