Ahead of Bollywood Wives’ release, Madhur Bhandarkar says no response from Dharma to the 4 notices sent for ‘misusing’ title

Madhur Bhandarkar has shared all the four notices sent to Dharma Productions by the IMPPA, IFTDA and FWICE for using the title Bollywood Wives for their new Netlix reality show.

Filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar has shared all the notices sent to Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions for tweaking the title ‘Bollywood Wives’ for his upcoming Netflix series, Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives. The latter will release on Friday.

Madhur says that Dharma Productions was sent four notices by Indian Motion Pictures Producers’ Association (IMPPA), Indian Film and Television Directors’ Association (IFTDA) and Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE). However, Karan or Dharma have not replied to any of them. “Notices send to @DharmaMovies since 19th Nov, 2 from (IMPPA) ,1 (IFTDA)& 2 Notices of (FWICE )all r Official Bodies of the Film Industry, on misusing & tweaking of my Film Title #BollywoodWives...there is NO official response yet to any of the above Associations from Dharma,” he wrote in his tweet on Thursday.

 

Earlier, Madhur had claimed that Karan and his partner Apoorva Mehta had requested him for the title Bollywood Wives for their show. Madhur did not agree to it as his own project was underway. They, therefore, tweaked the title and gave a green light to the show.

The IMPPA, on the basis of Madhur’s complaint, had written to The Film and Television Producers Guild of India saying, “We hereby confirm that we allotted the title ‘Bollywood Wives’ for feature film / Web series and Short film to M/s Bhandarkar Entertainment who have now complained that M/s Dharma Productions are violating their rights and you are therefore requested to kindly let us know if the said title is registered by you and we would be obliged for an early reply.”

Madhur had requested Karan and Apoorva to change the title of their show, which delves into the lives of Bollywood wives Bhavana Pandey, Maheep Kapoor, Seema Khan and Neelam Kothari. “Dear @karanjohar U & @apoorvamehta18 had asked me 4 the title #BollywoodWives for web,which I refused,as my project is underway. It is Morally & ethically wrong u to tweak it to #TheFabulousLivesofBollywoodWives. Pls do not dent my project. I humbly request u to change the title,” he had written.