The Bollywood movie “Neerja”, which has grossed an estimated Rs 125 crore in worldwide earnings and bagged the National Award for Best Hindi Feature Film, among several other film awards, could be headed for a legal battle with the family of braveheart flight purser Neerja Bhanot all set to take the producers of the box office hit film to court. The main contention of the Bhanot family is that the makers of the successful film did not honour their commitment to share 10 per cent of the box office collections with the Neerja Bhanot Trust and the family.
“I will not comment on this issue at this stage. All I can tell you is that we will not tolerate injustice,” Aneesh Bhanot, brother of Neerja Bhanot, told IANS here. Aneesh refused to give any details about the legal case, saying that the family lawyer will be able to give the exact status. Sources, however, said that the family is moving the Punjab and Haryana High Court in this regard and a legal notice has already been served on the makers of “Neerja”.
Starring actress Sonam Kapoor, who played the lead role of Neerja Bhanot and even got a special mention by the jury of the National Film awards for her acting, the film bagged the ‘Best Feature Film in Hindi’ award at the 64th National Film Awards in April this year. The film is produced by Fox Star Studios and Bling Unplugged, the film was co-produced by leading fashion photographer Atul Kasbekar. It was directed by Ram Madhvani.
