Bharati Dubey (MID-DAY; June 3, 2014)

Priyanka Chopra may have sent her former boyfriend, Aseem Merchant, a legal notice in a bid to stop him from making a biopic on her former manager Prakash Jaju, but it looks like Merchant is in no mood to buckle under pressure.

Merchant says, “ We are going ahead with the project and we do not want to succumb to any pressure tactics. We have already replied to her notice.’’

The producer’s lawyer, Alankar Kripkekar, says that Merchant is going ahead with his plans of making a biopic on Prakash Jaju who was Priyanka Chopra’s former business manager. He says, “I can only say that we have the rights to Jaju’s biopic, 67 days, and we are going ahead with the project. Withdrawing publicity material of the film is simply not true. The film is in its nascent stage right now, as we have not yet written the script of the film. As for defamation, why would we want to defame anyone? It is Prakash Jaju’s story and we are going to stick to it.’’ On his part, Aseem emphasises that he is not seeking anyone else’s approval for the project. “We have bought the rights of Prakash Jaju’s biopic. So no, I am not showing the film’s script to anyone.’’

It may be noted here that Priyanka’s lawyer has sent a legal notice to Aseem Merchant stating that the biopic on Jaju alludes to the actress and dwells heavily on her personal and professional life. In her notice, she has also stated that the publicity material of the film should be withdrawn and no personal or confidential information about her or her family should be mentioned.

In the past
Prakash Jaju and Priyanka had a fallout in 2008 which led to Jaju getting arrested. Following this, he spent 67 days in jail. The film will apparently tell his story about the jail term.