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Siraj SyedSiraj Syed is the India Correspondent for FilmFestivals.com and a member of FIPRESCI, the International Federation of Film Critics. He is a Film Festival Correspondent since 1976, Film-critic since 1969 and a Feature-writer since 1970. He is also an acting and dialogue coach. @SirajHSyed Patil-Dayal’s say all: Producer-director Mrunalinni wants her daughter backPatil-Dayal’s say all: Producer-director Mrunalinni wants her daughter back After living on the edge for nine years, Mrunalinni has gone to the police, called a press conference and met a lawyer, all in the past week, to complain about mental and physical torture and death threats, by her separated husband, actor-producer Amitabhh Dayal. They have one son, Shivam, and a daughter, Amruta. Amruta is the source of Patil’s grave concern—she has accused Dayal of exposing Amruta to “unmentionable things”. Mrunalinni was born Kavita, to Dr. Suryakanta Patil, a Union Minister and a veteran Maharashtra politician, who was a four-time Member of Parliament, but, after marriage, changed her name to Mrunalinni, a spelling variation of the popular Indian name Mrinalini or Mrunalini, the latter being a Marathi pronunciation. Trained to be a doctor, she was attracted to the media a long time ago, first to television, and then cinema. Setting-up as many as four companies-- Suryaa Films Kreation, Shivamrut Creation, Amruta Films Pvt Ltd and Amruta Films (named after Mrunalinni’s mother and children; ownership details of these companies are not available immediately), she made, between 2006 and 2015, several Hindi and Marathi films, including Aaag, Dhuaaan, Manthan: Ek Amrut Pyala, Raakhandaar, Kaay Raav (also spelt Rao) Tumhi and Karbonn. The 2003 vehicle Kagaar: Life on the Edge, introduced Dayal to the screen. In some instances, her husband’s name appeared as producer. Though I have known Kavita for about 25 years, I had met them as a couple only once, a decade ago, in Goa, at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI). Dayal took a good, long, look at me, and declared publicly, “You will play the villain in my next film.” Might not sound a welcome remark, but having played the villain in a couple of TV series, I found nothing shocking about the offer. Yes, most of my roles have been of positive characters, but then that’s the challenge. Needles to say, that party where made the announcement was the first and last I heard of Amitabhh Dayal, in person. Sometime later, I learnt from Mrunalinni that the couple had separated, but neither did I ask about developments that led to this pass, nor did Mrunalinni disclose any. In recent, times, besides bumping into her often at film festivals, I have reviewed two of her Marathi films, as producer-director, projects that did not involve Dayal. Today (01 July), I got some messages and emails from her, about the predicament. No, she did not call me for the press conference she held four days ago, and the privilege of ‘breaking the story’ was offered to a journalist colleague, well-known for his access to the inner circles of filmdom, I think her plight needs to be communicated, so I will not stand on formality. Here is the video of her press conference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCtcAHfkf4Y In it, she has spoken about the allegations and the run-up to them, at length. Hear it from her own mouth. Now read the press release, edited only for language and typos. "I had no intention to wash dirty linen in public, but now I am helpless, and have complained against my husband Amitabhh Dayal, who has been, mentally and physically, torturing me, resorting to extortion, blackmailing and even physically abuse. He is also threatening to defame me and kill me. To get back at me, he is luring my mentally troubled daughter to defame me in the media. I have all the proof with me, to prove my point. "I am married to Amitabhh Dayal, since 2000. On the day of our wedding reception itself, in Bilaspur, he drank, abused, spat on me, and beat me up, in front of his relatives. Finally, his cousin brother, Ajay Najat, came to the hotel, and threatened to take him to the police. Next day, he said “Sorry” in front of the whole family, and I forgave him, and we came back to Mumbai. Things were normal for some days. But again, in the month of June that year, when we went for our honeymoon, he drank again, when we were in Delhi. Here too, he beat me, abused me and even kicked me in my stomach. Once again, he said sorry, but he said it happened because he was drunk. "After marriage, he started physically torturing me, and asked me to make a film for him. So, to avoid family quarrels, I formed a film company, called Amruta Films Pvt Ltd, and produced a film, called Kagaar, I am still paying the debts of this film. I did this to calm him, thinking now he will stop torturing me. But the physical violence & mental torture continued. He was even admitted in Holy Cross Hospital's psychiatry ward, under Dr. Rajan Prabhu, and was treated for manic depression, with paranoia, and also chronic alcohol addiction. "The same situation continued for years on end, so much so, that even his own nephew, Gaurav Henry, and other friends too, told me that he was a big womaniser, and a chronic alcoholic. They cautioned me to be aware of him, and keep my daughter away from him. So, 7 years ago, I decided to stay away from him, and severed all ties with him, like his own relatives. But he has lured my teenage daughter and making her meet the media, mainly to defame me. He is also exposing her to a lot of unmentionable things. Finally, she ran away from home on 9th May, 2016, and her father brought her back on 16th May, 2016. But her attitude towards me had changed by now, and she walked out again, with bag and baggage on 29th May, 2016, and he is once again using her against me, to defame my name in the media. "As I mentioned earlier, my daughter is a mentally troubled child, and she needs at least 2 years of extensive therapy sessions, to cure her, but her father is refraining her from doing so. I am only worried about my daughter's well being. As a last resort, I will be going straight to a magistrate, to seek her judicial custody, and the police officials have also assured me that they will take a due course of action, and will file FIR against my husband, Amitabhh Dayal. We are still not legally divorced, but I was ready to grant him a mutual divorce, on grounds of 7 years of separation. My plea is that my husband should not use my daughter as his shield to get back at me, and tarnish her reputation to pieces, but leave me and my daughter in peace." She told this writer, “Amu (Amruta) has borderline bi-polar tendency, and a dependent personality, influenced by, and attracted to, negative forces. She is under treatment. He has done so much to harm her mentally.” Kagaar The story was conceptualised by Dr Mrunalini Patil, and based on a police “encounter specialist, Daya Nayak, also referred to as the Dirty Harry of Mumbai Police. In some way or the other, Daya was the model for films such as Company (2002), Khakee (2004), Ab Tak Chhappan/So Far 56 (2004, inspired on his life), Aan – Men at Work (2004), Encounter - The Killing (2002) and Ek Haseena Thi/Once There Was a Beauty (2004). Daya is also believed to have provided material for films like ‘D’ (2005), Risk (2007) and Contract (2008). Besides Hindi, films in south Indian languages too took the cue from the top cop: Daya Nayak—Licence to Kill (Kannada) and Golimaar (Telugu). The Patil family was known to the encounter specialist, and, it was said, that when he heard they wanted a good script to launch their son-in-law, Daya suggested his own life story. Dayal told the press, “Daya Nayak is my alter ego.” Nayak was suspended in 2006, pending an investigation for owning assets disproportionate to his income, cleared of the charge, and reinstated in 2012. Amitabhh Dayal (sourced from the Internet) *Besides home productions, also acted in Viruddh. *Runs a company called Wild Water Entertainment and another named Amitabh Dayal Productions. *His companies are making feature films ad films, short films, documentaries and more. *Amitabhh Dayal is the founder of Vac-V. Spellings Hindi films and TV, spellings of names may appear peculiar due to Romanising from Hindi/Urdu to English, or due to numerological ‘corrections’. In the case of Amitabh Dayal and Mrunalini Patil, we find this happening many times, with an additional ‘n’ or ‘a’ in names of persons or films. An extra letter, or an apparently inaccurate spelling, is given to the name, to give a weight (total value of the words, using the ascribed value to each letter) that changes the total, from inauspicious to auspicious. Personally In a series of interactions with the Mumbai police, especially in the Division that Mrunalinni lives in, I have found them unresponsive, and actually hostile. I am convinced that not one officer, below the rank of Assistant Commissioner, would have even read any of the 1,000 pages of complaints and documentary evidence I have submitted so far. And even the senior officers, who, I am sure, can read and understand English well, would have had no time, or inclination, to do so. But then I am a mere journalist, law graduate and lecturer, a senior citizen, and my written complaints have been in English. Never mind that I have been threatened in the presence of policemen, suffered theft, misappropriation, criminal intimidation, wrongful restraint, extortion and blackmail—they just refuse to record any complaint (known in Indian legal jargon as the First Information Report/Diary Entry). On the other hand, with her connections, and background, Mrunalinni should be able to get the police to act tout de suite. I hope she gets a fair investigation. (An update will follow). Disclaimer Information published above is merely in the nature of news. No attempt is being made to decide the merits of or pass a verdict on the matter. We are open to add/correct/update the information, should facts emerge, after considering their prima facie nature. 01.07.2016 | Siraj Syed's blog Cat. : News
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(Siraj Associates) Siraj Syed is a film-critic since 1970 and a Former President of the Freelance Film Journalists' Combine of India.He is the India Correspondent of FilmFestivals.com and a member of FIPRESCI, the international Federation of Film Critics, Munich, GermanySiraj Syed has contributed over 1,015 articles on cinema, international film festivals, conventions, exhibitions, etc., most recently, at IFFI (Goa), MIFF (Mumbai), MFF/MAMI (Mumbai) and CommunicAsia (Singapore). He often edits film festival daily bulletins.He is also an actor and a dubbing artiste. Further, he has been teaching media, acting and dubbing at over 30 institutes in India and Singapore, since 1984.View my profile Send me a message The Editor |