MUMBAI: Raj Kumar Gupta will not be a happy man. Just a week before the release of his third film ‘Ghanchakkar’, it has been charged with a legal notice by little-known writer Dhirendra Kumar for allegedly copying the story off a script penned by him.
Dhirendra Kumar claims that he had written the script from which the story of ‘Ghanchakkar’ was lifted way back in 2010-2011 and that he had registered it the same year too. He also claims that he had eventually met Raj Kumar Gupta through the Film Writers’ Association and had narrated his script to him. He recently came across the promos of ‘Ghanchakkar’ on television and that’s when he tried to find out more about the film.
Dhirendra Kumar then filed a complaint with the Film Writers’ Association on 20 May, 2013. He said that after he had registered a complaint with the Writers’ Association, he was asked to “appear for a meeting by the dispute settlement committee.” But he claims that he was eventually told that the meeting had been postponed.
After that, he has now sent a legal notice to the production house of the film – UTV – seeking a stay order on the release of the film. ‘Ghanchakkar’ is to release on 28 June, 2013. Advocate Satish Mishra, representing Dhirendra Kumar, said that he expects the court to put a stay order on ‘Ghanchakkar’ by Monday. “The writer’s name has not even been mentioned on the promotional hoardings,” he said.
Dhirendra Kumar claims that the production house has not yet replied. A spokesperson from UTV, which has produced ‘Ghanchakkar’, on the other hand, said, “We have received a notice from the lawyer of the said individual and we will reply to it. Needless to say, there is absolutely no truth to his claims.”
Plagiarism charges against films that are just about to release aren’t new in Bollywood. Last year, Ashwini Chaudhary had a lawsuit filed against her film Jodi Breakers by the producers of the French film Heartbreakers. Ashwini Chaudhary won that particular case. For now, it is a tense wait to see whether ‘Ghanchakkar’ will release this Friday or not.
