Shahid Kapoor's Jersey in trouble. Writer files copyright infringement case against film
India Today
Writer Rupesh Jaiswal has filed a suit claiming infringement of copyright over the story of actor Shahid Kapoor-starrer Jersey. The case will be heard on Wednesday, April 13.
Shahid Kapoor's film Jersey, which is set to release on April 22, has been dragged to court by a writer named Rupesh Jaiswal. Jaiswal has filed a suit claiming infringement of copyright over the story of the Shahid Kapoor-starrer Jersey.
Jaiswal submitted that in 2007, after rigorous inquiry, he purportedly got a script registered titled The Wall with the former Film Writers Association. The association is now called screenwriters association.
Jaiswal claimed that the concept, story, and idea from his script have been illegally plagiarised within the Telugu as well as the Hindi film Jersey. The Telugu film, also titled Jersey, was released in 2019 and has been remade in Hindi now.
Jaiswal's script revolved around a male protagonist and was set in the backdrop of the sport of cricket. The primary underlying themes of the story were familial love and affection, determination, defiance of age-linked inhibitions in view of bonafide ambition etc. The script involved a cricketer giving up the sport in his early youth only to pick it up again in his middle age, being motivated by his desire to make his family proud of him, especially his son.
Jaiswal stated that there were several overlaps in his script and the stories of the films. He deduced that the plagiarised version of his script had been manipulated slightly in order to evade the scanner of plagiarism. "The defendants have unjustly enriched themselves while causing massive economic loss to the plaintiff (Jaiswal)," the suit stated.
Jaiswal also claimed that the defendants have colluded with each other to cheat and deceive him for wrongful gain by wrongfully obtaining the script from a third party so they could avoid paying royalties. "The fact that a Telugu language movie is now being adapted and remade in Hindi in itself shows that huge profits have already been made in Telugu film in 2019 when it was released." the plea emphasised.
Jaiswal stated that his rights have been violated under the copyright act and the defendants ought to cease and desist from any further propagation of the plagiarised versions of the story.
