Mimi Director Laxman Utekar Says Team Was Stunned When Film Was Pirated

Mimi director Laxman Utekar spoke about the team’s reaction when they found out that the movie had been pirated four days before its scheduled release. Mimi, starring Kriti Sanon and Pankaj Tripathi, was earlier scheduled to release on 30 July. On Monday, the film was pirated and released on Telegram and torrent sites.

On the same day, the makers announced that the film would be released four days in advance on Netflix and Jio Cinemas on 26 July. In a clip shared by trade analyst Taran Adarsh, Mimi actor Pankaj Tripathi had announced, “Mimi is delivering early. There are some babies who get delivered early, our Mimi is like that.”

Talking to Midday, director Laxman Utekar said that the film’s crew was ‘stunned’ when they learned about the leak. “I feel hurt because we worked hard on the film. It took us two years to make Mimi."

""We waited long for the theatres to open, but the situation compelled us to release it on OTT. We were satisfied with the fact that it will be watched by the audience. After what happened on Monday, we were stunned. It makes us wonder if we could have been more careful."" - Laxman Utekar, 'Mimi' Director

However, he added that the leak didn’t impact the film commercially since the film was released officially soon after. During an Instagram live, producer Dinesh Vijan had announced the film’s early release and said that it’s a gift for Kriti Sanon, whose birthday falls on 27 July.

Mimi is the story of an aspiring actor, Mimi (Kriti Sanon), who agrees to become a surrogate for an American couple. However, the couple decides they don’t want the child and abandon Mimi when she’s pregnant.

The film also stars Saie Tamhankar, Manoj Pahwa, Supriya Pathak, Evelyn Edwards and Aidan Whytock in key roles.

Also Read: Review: 'Mimi' Reduces Its Titular Character to a Sad Stereotype

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