Bombay HC Restrains Filmmaker Santosh Kumar from Accusing Dhurandhar Director Aditya Dhar of Script Theft

On Wednesday, the Bombay High Court issued an interim order restraining filmmaker Santosh Kumar from reiterating his claims that director Aditya Dhar had copied the script of his latest hit, Dhurandhar. Dhar has moved the High Court claiming that Kumar’s repeated allegations are defamatory and damage his reputation. While issuing the interim order, Justice Arif S Doctor noted that Aditya Dhar made a prima facie case for the grant of such relief.

“Until the next date, the defendant (Kumar) shall be restrained from repeating words set out in the suit, and all other words of a similar nature. Issue notice," the Court ordered. It stated clearly that the order is specifically against Santosh Kumar and will operate till April 16. According to the suit, Kumar made the allegations after the release of Dhurandhar The Revenge, accusing Dhar of script theft.

Aditya Dhar issued a legal notice to Kumar, denying any plagiarism and asked him to cease making any allegations. When the latter failed to respond, Dhar moved the HC through DSK Legal. Senior Advocate Birendra Saraf appeared for Dhar before the Court and argued that Kumar’s accusations were causing repeated damage to the filmmaker’s reputation.

"All I seek is, if he has a grievance about infringement, he himself said I am going to initiate legal proceedings. He can initiate legal proceedings and I will respond to the same appropriately. But in the meanwhile, he can't use such language," Saraf said.

After noting that the allegedly defamatory comments had been widely shared, the Court granted Dhar interim relief. "In my view, the plaintiff has made out a case for the grant of limited ad-interim relief," the Court concluded.