This Article is From Jun 28, 2016

Shirish Kunder Sends Filmmaker Who Accused Him of Plagiarism Legal Notice

Shirish Kunder Sends Filmmaker Who Accused Him of Plagiarism Legal Notice

A still from the film Kriti

Highlights

  • Nepali filmmaker accused Shirish of stealing the plot of his movie Bob
  • The legal notice reads, Aneel Neupane has infringed Shirish's copyright
  • Kriti was released online on June 22
Mumbai: After Shirish's Kritistarted garnering plaudits on social media, Nepali filmmaker Aneel Neupane accused him of "practically stealing the plot" of his movie Bob.

In reaction to the allegations, Shirish has sent a legal notice to Neupane through his advocate.

The notice, a copy of which is with IANS, states that Shirish made Kriti as a "professional film".

"Kunder completed shooting the film in February 2016. It then went into post-production and was published on June 22, 2016."

Aneel alleged that Bob was ready in October 2015 and that he uploaded it on Vimeo "as a private video to share it with close friends" before releasing it on YouTube on May 12 this year.

In response to that, Shirish's notice reads that he could "not have obtained a copy" of Bob. In fact, he says that since the script of Kriti was available with a few people, it is "entirely possible" that Aneel came across it and then put Bob together.

"Assuming your position is correct that the two films are so similar, then it is you who has infringed our client's copyright," the notice to Aneel read.

In Kriti, Manoj Bajpayee is seen suffering from a psychological disorder, while Radhika Apte and Neha Sharma play crucial roles with Manu Rishi also essaying a role. The film is for the online platform muvizz.com but has been uploaded on Youtube as well.

Shirish has demanded that Aneel tenders an "unconditional written apology", refrains from making any oral or written comments on Kriti and takes down Bob from the internet immediately and refrain from publishing the same or any part thereof on any other medium.

Kriti, an 18-minute short film, was released online on June 22. The film is getting rave responses from members of the film fraternity and critics alike. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also appreciated Shirish for it.


(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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