Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Monday paved the way for the release of the Hritik Roshan-starrer ‘Mohenjo Daro’, rejecting a petition for a stay on its release.
The film is slated for release on August 12. A division bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice Amjad Sayed were hearing an application filed by Akashaditya Lama, who sought a stay on the release of the film directed by Ashutosh Gowariker.
Lama, the director of film Cigarette ki Tarah (2012) had moved the division bench to challenge the orders passed by another single-judge bench which dismissed his suit. Earlier, on June 20, Lama had filed a suit accusing Gowariker of copyright infringement, before a single-judge bench of Justice Gautam Patel. He alleged that Gowariker stole his (Lama’s) play’s story without acknowledging him. He submitted that in 2001, he had narrated the story to Jaswinder Ballu Saluja, an editor who worked in some of Gowarriker’s films like Lagaan and Swades.
In his order Justice Patel held that Lama filed the suit only after the release of the official trailer of the film (on June 20). Justice Patel also held that the petitioner had gone to various forums only with a view to harrass the filmmakers.
Moreover, Justice Patel had also imposed a cost of Rs 1.5 lakh on Lama as a fine.
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Lama then approached the division-bench seeking a stay on the film’s release. However, the bench had asked him to give a clarification over his ‘delay’ in approaching the HC. It must be noted that in September last year Lama had approached the city civil court with a similar prayer. However, he withdrew his suit in March this year after Gowariker’s counsel raised questions over the lower court’s jurisdiction.
On Monday, when the matter came up for hearing, Justice Oka sought a clarification over the delay of more than three months (from March to June) in approaching the HC.
However, Lama’s counsel Rohan Cama could not give a satisfactory response, which led the bench pass an order in Gowariker’s favour.
“You approached HC in June after withdrawing your suit from city civil court in March. For three months you slept on the matter despite the fact you were aware of the defendant’s (Gowariker) film since November, 2014,” the bench observed.
