Bhumi, Taapsee Film Renamed ‘Saand Ki Aankh’ after Producers’ Tiff

The project was originally titled ‘Womaniya’.

Anurag Kashyap’s next film stars Bhumi Pednekar and Taapsee Pannu.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter)

Actors Taapsee Pannu and Bhumi Pednekar will be seen playing the world's oldest sharpshooters - Chandro Tomar and her sister-in-law Prakashi Tomar - in the upcoming film titled Saand Ki Aankh.

The Reliance Entertainment film will mark writer Tushar Hiranandani's debut as a director. It will also be jointly produced by Anurag Kashyap and Nidhi Parmar.

"This was a story that deserves to be told and we at Reliance Entertainment, are excited to see this manifest on the big screen," Shibasish Sarkar, Group CEO, Reliance Entertainment, said in a statement.

Taapsee on Saturday took to Twitter, where she shared a photograph of herself along with Bhumi, Chandro and Prakashi.

She captioned the image: "Kickstarting the shoot of our country's oldest and coolest shooters Chandro (and) Prakashi."

Bhumi, who called it a "ground breaking" story, also shared the same image and captioned it: "Old is gold and this is certainly gold! Excited to begin the shooting of this ground breaking real story of world's oldest sharpshooters."

Lauding the star cast, Hiranandani, said: "Both Bhumi and Taapsee have put their heart and soul into the characters right from the initial prep to the training and their looks. The film is the perfect platform for them to reach their true potential as powerhouse performers."

Anurag asserted that "content is king". "We believe 'Saand Ki Aankh' will truly stand out," he added.

It is set in the hinterlands of Uttar Pradesh.

Chandro, 87, and Prakashi, 82, are from Uttar Pradesh's Johri village and reportedly took up sharpshooting in their 50s. Chandro, who is fondly called as shooter 'dadi' is among the world's oldest female sharpshooters.

Earlier, the film ran into controversy due to its original title Womaniya. Anurag had coined the term ‘Womaniya’ in Gangs of Wasseypur and his new production was ready to shoot with that title. However the producers discovered that the title was already registered with Pritish Nandy Communications Ltd.

“I don’t even know if it’s legal to do this. It’s like encroaching on someone’s property, then asking for an obscene amount of money to get off it. We have been politely requesting Nandy for the title for a very long time and have even consulted lawyers on the matter. We’ve been told that no one can hoard a title. But to get a censor certificate, the producers’ association has to register the title which makes the law contradictory.”

Anurag Kashyap

Meanwhile, Pritish responded, “Both IMPPA (Indian Motion Pictures Producer’s Association) and FMC (Film Makers Conbine) have written to Anurag Kashyap several times asking him not to use the title Womaniya illegally since it’s owned by PNC.”

Finally, Anurag tweeted on Saturday 9 February that he was refusing to buy the title from Pritish and the film was going ahead with a new title, Saand Ki Aankh.

(With Inputs From: IANS, Hindustan Times)