Sayani Gupta Denies Copyright Claim As Aasmani Exits NZ Festival

Sayani Gupta's first film as director was supposed to have its moment at the Indian Film Festival of New Zealand. Instead, the short film Aasmani has been withdrawn from the festival's line-up after a copyright complaint, per NDTV and Bollywood Hungama — turning what should have been a launch into a dispute the actor is now contesting in public.

• Sayani Gupta's directorial debut, the short film Aasmani, has been withdrawn from the Indian Film Festival of New Zealand amid a copyright dispute, per NDTV and Bollywood Hungama.
• The complaint came from a fellow FTII-trained filmmaker who alleges Aasmani borrowed from her unfinished documentary Prabha, per Outlook India and Deccan Chronicle.
• The complainant says Prabha has been in development since 2019 and was registered with the Screenwriters Association in 2020, per Deccan Chronicle.
• She also claims she shared her work-in-progress trailer and materials with Gupta in 2023 through a mutual connection, per Deccan Chronicle.
• Gupta has denied the allegations, calling the festival withdrawal "deeply unfair" and saying Aasmani is an original fiction comedy developed independently over several years, per News18 and Free Press Journal.
• Gupta says the complainant has not watched Aasmani and is basing the claim on assumption, per Free Press Journal.

Gupta, best known for Four More Shots Please! and Article 15, has not disputed the withdrawal itself but has pushed back hard on the reason for it, telling News18 the decision feels "deeply unfair".

What the complaint alleges

The complaint, per Outlook India and Deccan Chronicle, comes from a fellow filmmaker trained at the Film and Television Institute of India. She alleges that Aasmani borrows from Prabha, an unfinished documentary she says has been in development since 2019 and was registered with the Screenwriters Association in 2020.

Deccan Chronicle reports the complainant's account of a specific chain of events: she says she shared her work-in-progress trailer and conceptual materials with Gupta in 2023 through a mutual connection. Her project, she says, follows an elderly woman, a vintage car and an intergenerational friendship. These remain allegations; no court or industry body has ruled on them.

Gupta's answer

Gupta's denial has been categorical. She maintains that Aasmani is an original fiction comedy whose script was developed independently over several years, per Free Press Journal and News18, and says the complainant has not seen the finished film — making the plagiarism claim, in her telling, an assumption rather than a comparison.

"Deeply unfair" is the phrase she has used for the festival's decision to pull the film, per News18. The dispute now sits in an uncomfortable in-between: the film is out of the festival, the allegation is unproven, and both filmmakers' accounts are on the record and irreconcilable.

What happens next

Neither side has announced legal proceedings, and the festival has not published a detailed explanation of its decision beyond the withdrawal itself, per the coverage to date. That leaves Aasmani's festival future — and any formal resolution of the copyright question — open.

For Gupta, the stakes are reputational as much as artistic: a directorial debut tends to define how an actor's second career is received. How this dispute resolves, and where Aasmani screens next, will decide whether the film is remembered for its content or its controversy.

This article is original commentary and analysis by The NE Times. Background facts were referenced from NDTV, Deccan Chronicle, Outlook India, News18, Free Press Journal, Bollywood Hungama.