X: Past is Present makers have taken the legal route against Drishyam Films; here's why

The 2015 indie/experimental film X: Past is Present has found itself in the midst of a controversy after its directors have made serious allegations against the producer, Manish Mundra of Drishyam Films. After months of following up with the production house regarding the payment, one of the 11 directors of the film recently took to social media to put their troubles out in public. [caption id=“attachment_2945250” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Poster of X: Past is Present[/caption] Sudhish Kamath, the director of Past is Present, a part of the serialized anthology, in a series of posts on Facebook and Twitter described his issues with Mundra and Drishyam Films. He revealed that the 11 directors, who were also co-producers of the film, have not received their dues for working on the film. Besides he also alleges that Drishyam Films has infringed upon their copyright by distributing their film without authorisation from the original authors. The website of Drishyam films describes it’s founder Manish Mundra as “an indie saviour of sorts”. The story of how the producer of films like Masaan and Dhanak helped Rajat Kapoor to make his film Ankhon Dekhi has now become a part of Bollywood lore and given Mundra this title. But the directors who have worked with him do not believe this to be wholly true.

Drishyam Films has infringed upon the copyright of the original authors & does not have the authorisation from us to distribute the film.

— Sudhish Kamath (@SudhishKamath) August 9, 2016

After establishing Drishyam Films as a production house, Manish Mundra came forward to produce the 2015 film X: Past is Present. The collaborative feature film film had 11 directors and some well known names like Rajat Kapoor, Huma Qureshi and Radhika Apte. Now some of the film directors have come forward to claim that the producer has not upheld his part of the agreement for the film. After deliberations with Mundra, the directors had reached an agreement that while Mundra would get solo producer credits, when it came to monetary matters the film would be co-produced by all eleven.

We did put in money as coproducers but the terms kept changing because Mr Manish Mundra wanted solo producer credit. https://t.co/PRMTQNJS2I

— Sudhish Kamath (@SudhishKamath) August 9, 2016

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Further he has hit out at the producer saying that they have infringed upon the copyright of the film which lies with the directors, the original authors by distributing the film. They plan to take the legal route and have already begun the process by sending out a cease and desist letter on Monday.

We have sent Drishyam a cease & desist letter yesterday and will be informing all channels and platforms infringing upon our copyright soon.

— Sudhish Kamath (@SudhishKamath) August 9, 2016

Kamath, who had put the matter behind him and decided to move on with his films, decided to take to social media to put out his troubles when he saw a Fortune India article on Manish Mundra and his company. After taking the legal course he has now taken down some of his previous posts. Kamath says that he has been pursing the matter for months with the producers, but on their part they have been non-cooperative. When Firstpost tried to get in touch with Shiladitya Bora, CEO, Drishyam Films regarding the subject, he said, “We do not want to comment about it right now.”