Gulabo Sitabo: Shoojit Sircar and Juhi Chaturvedi accused of copyright infringement
It was a game-changing moment in cinema history when the makers of Gulabo Sitabo starring Amitabh Bachchan and Ayushmann Khurrana decided to release it directly on an OTT platform.
The film’s trailer was unveiled three weeks before the announcement. A week before the film’s online release, Akira Aggarwal filed a police complaint against the director and writer of filmmaker Shoojit Sircar and writer Juhi Chaturvedi, alleging copyright infringement and plagiarism. She registered the case on 6 June.
According to the complaint filed by Akira, the story of ‘Gulabo Sitabho’ is similar to the script written by her father (late) Rajeev Agarwal, which was presented in the Cinestan India’s Storytellers Contest in 2018. It was titled ’16, Mohandas Lane ‘. His script, claims Akira, was shortlisted and accessed by jurors, including Juhi Chaturvedi. Akira has said that her father was quite happy when he reached the third round of the script competition, in which he was asked to submit a video and he remembers how they shot together.
She told, “We are not asking for money but I am very concerned about the similarity between the film trailer and my father’s script. This is my father’s last job, for which his friends and I came together. It is close to my heart. I contacted Screenwriters Association India (SWA) for the intervention, but the body did not tell me that they are partners with Cinestan and Anjum Rajabali (the jury president of the competition). SWA had asked Juhi for the script, which has not been made available to anyone till date. Neither to him nor to me. I have lost faith in the fraternity, although my father was part of it for over 30 years. “
Meanwhile, Amitabh Bachchan’s upcoming film ‘Gulabo Sitabo’ with Ayushmann Khurrana is set for digital release on 12 June.
