‘Ujda Chaman’ director Abhishek Pathak to take action against ‘Bala’ for copyright violation

Ayushmann Khurrana starrer ‘Bala’ has been in news since its announcement. Post the release of the teaser, everyone was eagerly waiting for the trailer to release. But before that we got to see the trailer of Sunny Singh starrer ‘Ujda Chaman’ that deals with the same concept of premature balding. On October 10, the makers of ‘Bala’ released its trailer and not only the concept, but we could also see a few scenes similar to that of ‘Ujda Chaman’. As reported by Mumbai Mirror, director Abhishek Pathak said that he is planning to take legal action against ‘Bala’ makers for copyright violation.

‘Bala’ has changed its release date many times. Earlier it was scheduled to release on November 22, then it shifted to November 15. So, technically ‘Bala’ was to release one week after ‘Ujda Chaman’. But yesterday Maddock Films announced the new release date of Ayushmann Khurrana starrer. It is now releasing on November 7, one day before ‘Ujda Chaman’s release.

Abhishek said that they acquired the rights of Kannada movie ‘Ondu Motteya Kathe’ in the last quarter of 2018. In an interview, he told Mumbai Mirror, “It’s obvious where their inspiration came from, but while we have the official remake rights of ‘Ondu Motteya Kathe’, they have tried to maneuver the screenplay by flipping a few things, like in the original, there’s a girl selling a hair-growing product to bald people, in ‘Bala’ you see Ayushmann selling products to dusky girls.”

“This is a clear case of copyright violation. I can understand two films around a bald character releasing within a short span of time, but in this case, there are striking similarities with my film and the original whose rights are with me,” said Abhishek.

While Maddock Films released a statement stating that they firmly stand by the originality of ‘Bala’, and will back the movie all the way, including through legal recourse if it is needed.

Also Read: ‘Ujda Chaman’ producer Kumar Mangat on clash with Ayushmann Khurrana’s ‘Bala’: Its very unethical and wrong