Copyright Storm Hits Netflix’s ‘Gandhari’ As Plagiarism Allegations Mount

Days before its Netflix premiere, Taapsee Pannu’s Gandhari has exploded into one of the sharpest copyright storms in recent OTT history, and this does not feel like manufactured noise. It feels like a serious allegation that refuses to die. Writer Kalyan Bandi, an IIT Madras alumnus and government inspector, claims he wrote, registered, and pitched a story titled Gandhari as far back as 2019. His concept: a mother who transforms into a fierce, almost divine force while battling a child-trafficking racket. He says he shared the material with Monika Shergill who was then at Voot and now a senior Netflix executive. He registered the treatment with the Screenwriters Association. When Netflix announced Gandhari, written and produced by Kanika Dhillon, with an eerily similar core, Bandi sent a formal legal notice seeking credit and compensation. He has repeatedly said money is secondary; what he wants is acknowledgement that the idea was his. A second writer, Raghav Desai, has also claimed he pitched a near-identical Mahabharata-inspired mother-revenge narrative to the makers in 2024. Two independent claims. Same title. Same emotional spine. Same platform. Kathha Pictures and Kanika Dhillon have issued firm denials, calling the film an original work and the allegations “false and unverified.” Netflix has stated the earlier pitch was “very different.” Yet the optics remain damaging: a registered story, documented outreach to a future Netflix executive, and a high-profile film that lands with the exact same title and thematic DNA. In an industry where ideas routinely circulate without protection, this case cuts deeper. Copyright clarity is rarely black-and-white, but registration, written pitches, and legal notices raise legitimate questions that cannot be dismissed as mere publicity hunger. Whether the film ultimately clears the legal and ethical cloud remains to be seen, but the allegation itself is no longer easy to ignore.