No Copyright On Real-life Events: HC On Suit Opposing Chhapaak Release
News
oi-Swikriti Srivastava
By Pti
Paving
the
way
for
the
release
of
Deepika
Padukone-starrer
Chhapaak,
the
Bombay
High
Court
on
Wednesday
said
no
one
person
can
claim
copyright
on
a
story
inspired
by
true
events
or
incidents.
Recommended
Video
Chhapaak
Movie
Review;
कैसी
है
Deepika
Padukone
की
ये
फिल्म,
हिट
या
फ्लॉप
?
|
FilmiBeat
A
writer,
Rakesh
Bharti
had
filed
a
suit
in
the
HC
claiming
that
he
had
originally
penned
a
story
on
the
life
of
an
acid
attack
survivor
on
which
Chhapaak,
directed
by
Meghna
Gulzar,
is
based.
Bharti
in
his
suit
sought
for
his
name
to
be
included
in
the
credits
as
one
of
the
creative
writers
and
also
sought
a
stay
on
the
January
10,
2020,
release
of
the
movie.
After
hearing
brief
arguments
on
the
interim
relief
sought
by
Bharti,
Justice
S
C
Gupte
made
prima
facie
observations
that
copyright
cannot
be
claimed
over
such
stories.
"This
is
a
real
life
event.
When
the
source
of
the
story
is
common
then
no
one
can
claim
copyright.
Just
because
someone
has
or
is
writing
a
story
on
a
real
life
event
or
incident
does
not
mean
nobody
else
cannot,"
Justice
Gupte
said.
"You
(Bharti)
are
claiming
monopoly
on
a
real
life
incident.
It
is
impossible
to
grant
copyright
on
such
stories,"
the
judge
said.
Bharti's
counsels
Girish
Godbole
and
Ashok
Sarogi
then
made
a
statement
to
the
court
that,
as
on
today,
they
are
not
seeking
interim
relief
by
way
of
stay
on
the
movie's
release.
The
lawyers
said
they
would
keep
the
arguments
on
copyright
infringement
open
and
would
compare
the
scripts
once
Chhapaak
is
released.
The
HC
accepted
the
statement
and
posted
the
suit
for
further
hearing
after
six
weeks.
The
movie
is
based
on
the
life
of
acid
attack
survivor
Laxmi
Agarwal.
The
suit
filed
by
Bharti
claimed
that
he
had
conceived
an
idea/script
for
a
movie,
tentatively
titled
'Black
Day',
and
got
it
registered
with
the
Indian
Motion
Pictures
Producers' Association
(IMPPA)
in
February
2015.
Bharti
said
since
then
he
has
been
working
on
the
script
and
approaching
several
artists
and
producers,
including
Fox
Star
Studio,
for
narration.
"However,
the
project
could
not
commence
due
to
unavoidable
circumstances.
The
plaintiff
had
narrated
the
idea
to
Fox
Star
Studio,
which
is
the
production
house
for
'Chhapaak',"
the
plea
said.