As sources say Amazon US initially axed Paatal Lok during #MeToo in 2018, creator claims series uses rape-accused Tarun Tejpal's work as an only starting point
Uma Ramasubramanian, Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; May 13, 2020)

Amazon Prime's upcoming offering, Paatal Lok, has caught the audience's attention as much for its gritty treatment as for its source material. The Anushka Sharma-backed show is based on former Tehelka editor-in-chief Tarun Tejpal's book, The Story Of My Assassins, which in turn is a "fictionalised tale" of the 2001 incident where five suspects were arrested for allegedly plotting his assassination. While the Jaideep Ahlawat and Neeraj Kabi show follow a similar narrative, it is told from the perspective of a cop, essayed by the former.

Sources suggest that the crime thriller was in the works over the past five years, and had faced a hurdle in 2018. According to sources, Amazon US had decided to pull the plug on it when the #MeToo movement gathered steam in India, considering Tejpal was accused of rape by a colleague in 2013 and has been on bail since July 2014.

"However, creator Sudip Sharma and Amazon India had faith in their product and reasoned that the book was only the starting point. They pointed out that they had consciously distanced themselves and their offering from Tejpal. It was also a collective decision to develop Neeraj's journalist as a grey character, thus keeping the messaging of the show in the right place," adds the source.

When mid-day quizzed Sharma on how Amazon US had apparently wanted to axe the series, he refrained from discussing the episode, saying, "I wouldn't be in a position to comment on that."

Sharma, who has also served as one of the writers of the series, acknowledged that the book stayed with him ever since he read it a decade ago. "This book was a small part of it. We took a one-line plot from there, and then the writers explored many different situations. There are several other factors that have been added to our story. We decided to explore the life of a cop. [That character] is not based on a [real-life] person," he said, before stating, "The author of the book was not involved in the development or production of the show."

He also dismissed talk of Kabi's character being modelled on Tejpal. "Neeraj Kabi's role has got nothing to do with Tarun; it's a fictional character," he emphasised.

The Amazon Prime spokesperson remained mum on the 2018 episode, instead stating, "Paatal Lok is loosely inspired by an idea from the book. Creator-writer Sudip Sharma took inspiration from it, and with his team of writers, crafted a nuanced and immersive crime thriller. Tarun Tejpal was not involved in any phase of the development and production of the show. It is the story of an honest cop who unravels a deep nexus of crime. The characters are fictional and not based on any real-life personalities or incidents."

The actress is producing a series for Amazon based on book written by the journalist-author who is currently under trial in a rape case
Nishi Tiwari (MUMBAI MIRROR; March 8, 2019)

Mirror has learnt that after Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan and Akshay Kumar, Anushka Sharma is entering the OTT fray. One of the first web series to roll out of her banner is for the streaming giant Amazon Prime.

The actress, often hailed as the youngest producer (her first production, the 2014 woman-centric thriller NH10, released when she was 25), is producing a web series for Amazon which is based on journalist-author Tarun Tejpal’s book, The Story Of My Assassins. According to a source, shooting for the show is currently on in Delhi.

The Story of My Assassins is a crime novel based on actual events and follows a senior journalist as he sets out to investigate his would-be killers, inadvertently exposing the modern Indian underbelly. Hailing it as a “complex, dark, exhilarating novel” Jason Burke of The Guardian noted that the story was “told with the eye of a journalist but with the verve of a novelist”.

In an interview recently, writer Hardik Mehta, who is scripting a show for Anushka, had described it as a “Delhi based investigation drama” which is “tentatively-titled Assassin” and is “along the lines of US show True Detective”.

Tejpal, who wrote the book in 2010 (four years after his debut with The Alchemy of Desire), is the former editor-inchief of the investigative magazine Tehelka. In 2013, the 55-year-old journalist had stepped down from his position for six months after a female colleague accused him of rape inside the elevator of a five-star hotel in Goa in 2013 during a think fest organised by the magazine. He was subsequently arrested and is currently on bail since July 1, 2014.

Public discourse around the incident raged on long before #MeToo took shape as a formidable feminist movement across the globe. So, Anushka’s choice of subject for her digital foray could raise eyebrows. In a career spanning over a decade—she made her acting debut opposite Shah Rukh Khan in Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi in 2008—the 30-year-old actress-filmmaker has positioned herself as a social and animal rights activist with a focus on women’s liberation.

Interestingly, on Thursday, filmmakers Zoya Akhtar, Reema Kagti, Nitya Mehra and Alankrita Srivastava, who have worked together on the new Amazon Prime Original Made in Heaven, discussed women and inclusivity in Bollywood.

Today, the Amazon team, along with the Screenwriters Association, celebrates Women’s Day with a discussion on “Women Shaping the Narrative in Media and Entertainment”. Jennifer Salke, Head, Amazon Videos, along with actress Vidya Balan, writer-filmmakers Zoya and Sooni Taraporewala, actress-comedienne Sumukhi Suresh and writer Gazal Dhaliwal feature on the panel.

We reached out to Amazon and Anushka’s team, but both chose not to comment. 

Ankur Pathak (MUMBAI MIRROR; November 24, 2014)

Gaurav Dubey (MID-DAY; April 2, 2014)

Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap appears to be keen to defend Tehelka’s founder and former editor-in-chief, Tarun Tejpal, who is currently in jail for allegedly raping a junior colleague. In what seems like a controversial and questionable move, Kashyap posted on his social networking site, Facebook, “And I have seen the CCTV footage too and none of what the girl says about Tarun Tejpal is true.” The rape trial, set to begin at the Panaji fast track court, is caught in controversy with details of the hotel’s CCTV feed being made public, violating conditions set by the court.

Tejpal has been allegedly accused of sexually abusing the junior colleague at a conference in Goa last year.
Kashyap remained unavailable for comment. So it is still a mystery why he suddenly decided to bat for Tejpal.

Geetika Tyagi, the actress who accused Jolly LLB director Subhash Kapoor of molesting her, takes us through her ordeal, saying she will file a police complaint anytime now
Ankur Pathak (MUMBAI MIRROR; February 21, 2014)

When did you first meet Subhash Kapoor?
I met him in 2005 through a common friend Danish Raza. He introduced us saying Subhash was a journalist from Delhi and since I too had covered crime for a news channel in Delhi, we got chatting. Over the next eight years I got to know him and his wife Dimple Kharbanda better and we’d meet up frequently. I have even seen his son grow up. They were like family. On May 28, 2012, I met Subhash at a restaurant in Andheri. I was with my sister and her friend. Danish was there too. Subhash had been messaging me to meet him for some days. We had beer, I wanted to call it a day, but Subhash insisted we stay on. Eventually, we decided to take the party to my place which was nearby and which Subhash had visited several times with his wife. My sister and Danish came along.
 
Then? 
Everybody left, including my sister as we were in the middle of shifting to a new house. Danish, a trusted confidante, and Subhash stayed back. This was the first time Subhash was at my place without his wife who was in the US. I told him politely that he should leave but he went into the bedroom and dozed off. Despite my insistence to stay, Danish excused himself saying he had to go to work early. The minute he left, Subhash woke up and started giving me pep-talk about life and relationships. He then came and sat next to me and forced himself on me. I went numb. This man was like an elder brother. I ran to the kitchen, he followed me, I abused him roundly. Somehow I texted Danish to call me and told him loudly on the phone, “Subhash is leaving right now.”
 
Why didn’t you raise an alarm? 
I was shocked and scared. He could have harmed me.
 
You could have reported the matter to the cops the next day...
Subhash and Dimple were family, I couldn’t just run to the cops. I wrote to his wife and made several calls to her. Danish insisted I meet Subhash and quietly sort out the matter. He told me that since I didn’t have any evidence, my case wouldn’t stand. I was aghast and realised then that being a scriptwriter, he’d never go against Subhash who was making inroads into Bollywood.
 
Did Subhash also pressurise you not to file a police complaint? 
He called me a hundred times and Dimple begged me to let go of the matter saying that not only would their lives be ruined, but also the future of their son. I convinced myself that this was the noble thing to do and somehow bottled up my rage. I lost out on work, my social life was nonexistent and I was petrified not just of strangers, but also people I knew.
 
So what triggered the move to come out in the open and upload the video almost two years later? 
Dimple had emotionally convinced me that their marriage was over and their life shattered after this incident. But nothing like this happened. Soon they were celebrating together while my anger and helplessness got unbearable. The Tarun Tejpal incident gave me the strength to come out in the open.  

Who made the videos? Was Subhash aware that he was being filmed? 
I did. The first time when I met him after the incident (on May 31, 2012), I told him I would record everything. (Shows Mirror another video) In this clip you hear me ask him angrily how he could have done such a thing. He doesn’t respond initially, as you see, but later says, “I thought you were vulnerable, like I was, but I ended up making a blunder.” .
 
Some believe that the video you uploaded was timed to coincide with a press release issued, asserting that a big film studio had signed Subhash for their next film.
I can’t stand the guy, you think I’ll keep track of what film he is making? During the Tarun Tejpal’s incident in November, Atul Sabharwal, who I had confided in, tweeted saying Subhash is a pervert. His wife came running and pleaded with me to delete the tweet. By now, I knew this was a con. We shot the whole thing on my iphone; and that’s the video we uploaded.
 
The Tarun Tejpal incident happened in November. Why did you wait till now to come out? 
I had two films coming up – What the Fish and One By Two -- in successive months. I didn’t want to seem like someone using the tragedy for cheap publicity.
 
But you still haven’t gone to the cops
I will be filing a police complaint anytime now. I wanted to first gather clinching evidence and put it out in the public domain. This will prove useful during police procedures. It’s not easy going to the cops. It takes years to gather that kind of courage. But it was gratifying for me, a victim of sexual abuse, to shame and humiliate the perpetrator who was family and never a filmaker. I still get nightmares.

Parag Maniar (BOMBAY TIMES; January 9, 2014)

Filmmakers are all for adapting real-life incidents for the big screen. After the Neeraj Grover murder case and the 26/11 attacks, the latest incident likely to make it to screen is the Tarun Tejpal scandal. A source revealed that writer-actor Piyush Mishra is working on a script that seems to be inspired by Tejpal’s rise and fall. “Piyush has done thorough research and has even got details on how a media house functions on a daily basis,” revealed the source.

Shaheen Parkar (MID-DAY; December 6, 2013)

He may have rambled it off in jest in a bid to amuse the audience, which he felt were being treated to some serious talk, but when Shah Rukh Khan makes a dig at Tarun Tejpal, it gets noticed and raises eyebrows. The former Tehelka founder-editor has been grabbing headlines after he was accused of sexual assaulting a junior colleague. While Tejpal is in police custody in Goa, King Khan in his inimitable style had something to say about the high- profile case.

The star took a jibe at Tejpal at a conclave which was hosted by a news channel in New Delhi on Wednesday. It had the country’s leading personalities and thought leaders in attendance. Apart from SRK, the other B- Town folk at the event included Aamir Khan and Priyanka Chopra.

King Khan, as usual, was at his ebullient best as he answered every question in his tongue- in- cheek way. He stated that his job was to entertain people through his movies. The interviewer then told King Khan that as he is considered the king of romance, he should say some of his most memorable romantic lines. So as he began mouthing some dialogues from Jab Tak Hai Jaan, he indulged in a bit of harmless flirting with the interviewer asking her if she was married and when told yes, he said that he hoped that her husband was not watching the show. He further quipped that he would love to romance her somewhere outside the venue, but definitely not in a lift. SRK then paused and said “No... no you are a journalist, not in a lift.” As some members of the audience broke into laughter, he went a step further and said, “Adnan Sami’s Lift Kara De song now has a new meaning.” The audience then chuckled some more.

An onlooker says, “Shah Rukh may have just said it in a lighter vein but for a second there was stunned silence. There was this sense of disbelief considering it is a sensitive case. However, later people caught it as a joke and started laughing.”

Incidentally at the event, King Khan also declared that nowadays B-Town folk think of Rs 100, 200 and 300 crore clubs, but he is aiming to enter the Rs 1,000 crore club.

Subhash K Jha (DNA; November 26, 2013)

A woman accuses her boss of sexual harassment at her posh work-place. All hell breaks loose... Sounds familiar? That was the theme of Sudhir Mishra’s Inkaar released at the beginning of this year where ‘boss’ Arjun Rampal stands accused by protégée-employee Chitrangda.

The film seems to eerily pre-empt the current Tarun Tejpal incident. The producers of Inkaar, Viacom18 Motion Pictures are considering re-releasing their film. Says director Sudhir Mishra, “They should release it again. I’d be glad if they do. Arjun Rampal’s character is almost like a replica of Tarun Tejpal. Except that Arjun’s atonement after he admits to the crime of sexual harassment is not a six-month sabbatical. Arjun leaves everything, his career ambitions wealth and power, behind for good.”

The issue of sexual harassment shown in the film raised many hackles when it was released. Recalls Sudhir, “I had many executives from ad agencies telling me they don’t behave ‘that’ way. But it’s about time we stopped looking at specific work-places as exempted from that feudal mentality which has come from the villages into the cities. Women are susceptible to unwanted male attention everywhere. And God help the working woman if she is ambitious.”

Uncannily, the alleged victim of sexual harassment in Inkaar had her complaint looked into by a committee. Says Sudhir, “If you look at the situation today regarding Tarun Tejpal it is very similar to my film.Whether it is the world of advertisement or journalism, men need to confront their demons. Why are ambitious women regarded as convenient targets for harassment? Why should a woman’s ambitions be held against her?”

Sudhir feels his film’s complexities regarding gender equations was mis-read. “Inkaar was deliberately misunderstood by many critics who felt uncomfortable asking themselves questions about gender discrimination in their work place. In the end when Arjun confesses his love to Chitrangda she doesn’t forgive him. She simply walks away without saying anything. I believe when a woman is violated emotionally or physically it is no different from the feudal mentality in the villages. We may think we are more sophisticated in our attitude to women in the cities. But the truth is, we are as feudal in the cities as in the villages.”