MillenniumPost
Delhi

Is Fashion copied? Court to decide

A city court would deliver its judgement on 27 June on the complaint of a writer accusing filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar of stealing the plot and idea from her book for film Fashion and not giving credit to her.

Actress-turned-author Seema Seth had sought lodging of an FIR against Bhandarkar, alleging that the plot and idea for Fashion was stolen by Bhandarkar from her book El-Dorado, which was published three months prior to the release of the film on 29 October 2008.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sanjay Sharma reserved the orders after hearing arguments by Seth. She argued her case herself despite court’s suggestion to avail legal aid from Delhi Legal Services Authority.

Seth contended that Bhandarkar indulged in clear-cut violation of the Copyright Act. She has also made Ronnie Screwala of UTV Motion Pictures a party in the case where she has sought compensation to the tune of Rs 2.5 crore.

‘All the plot and the idea has been stolen from the said book wherein the story begins in Kolkata, where an aspiring model wishes to go to Mumbai but her father opposes and mother supports,’ Seth said.

‘Careful reading of the said book vis-a-vis the story of the said movie would conclude that all the story/script has been taken from the said book without my permission,’ she had contended.

Seeking a direction for lodging of an FIR against Bhandarkar and others under ‘appropriate’ section of the IPC and for violation of Copyright Act, Seth had sought expeditious hearing of her case.

Seth had earlier also told the court that after she issued legal notices to Bhandarkar and others, she has been ‘continuously harassed’ by some persons. She was ‘threatened with dire consequences’ and the local police were also not helping her, she had told the court.

‘On the contrary, they harassed me more while refusing to register the FIR,’ she had said.

‘I was also harassed at my work place and my plight is that I am being thrown out of my job on insistence of the above-mentioned people. Life has become miserable for me, my daughter and my brother and we live under constant fear due to all this,’ Seth had said in her complaint.
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