In a major relief to Hrithik Roshan-starrer Mohenjo Daro, the Bombay High Court shot down a petition and gave a go-ahead yesterday to its release slated for August 12
In a major relief to Hrithik Roshan-starrer Mohenjo Daro, the Bombay High Court shot down a petition and gave a go-ahead yesterday to its release slated for August 12. The petition filed by a scriptwriter claimed that the film's director has plagiarised his script, which he had submitted to an editor working in Ashutosh Gowariker's films way back in 2003.
Hrithik Roshan in a poster of Mohenjo Daro
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The bench of justices Abhay Oka and Justice A A Sayed asked the lawyer representing petitioner Akashaditya Lama as to why the plea was filed so late, after Lama withdrew a suit filed in the City Civil Court in March in this regard.
“We accept that we delayed but just after the withdrawal of the suit, Lama’s mother fell ill,” said Rohaan Cama, Lama’s counsel, which the bench refused to accept. The court however said that the matter is slated for hearing, but the film can go ahead with the release.
Lama was fined Rs 1,50,000 by the single justice of Bombay High Court in June for accusing ‘a renowned filmmaker like’ Gowariker of copyright violation, without submitting any suitable evidence. The hearing held yesterday was to challenge that order.
Gowariker’s lawyer Ravi Kadam argued that Lama churned out a script after watching the film’s trailer that was released on 20th June, 2016 and then filed the plea. Gowariker's sister Aslesha, also a lawyer was present during the hearing. Kadam further said that his client Gowariker has always given due credit to people for their scripts. After spending around R150 crore on the film, Gowariker will not hesitate to give credit.
What led to what
In 2003, Lama claims to have submitted the script of Mohenjo Daro to one Jaswinder Balu Saluja, who has edited Gowariker’s other films like Lagaan, Jodha Akbar and Swades. However, Gowariker’s office returned the script to him informing that the director is not planning any periodic film as of now. In 2010, Lama learnt that Mohenjo Daro is getting made and he sent several mails to Gowariker. However, he approached the high court only in June 2016, citing that he lost all his papers in the 2006 deluge.
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