Mumbai, April 16: The Bombay High Court on Thursday indicated that the defamation suit filed by writer-director of “Dhurandhar 2 – The Revenge” Aditya Dhar against writer-filmmaker Santosh Kumar over the film’s script should not be allowed to escalate. Justice Arif Doctor urged both sides to resolve the dispute amicably.
Court suggests amicable resolution
“A matter like this should be resolved. It doesn’t need to escalate into a fight for defamation,” the judge observed, adding that the issue appeared capable of being de-escalated and worked out.
Allegations and response
Dhar has sued Kumar after the latter publicly alleged that the film’s script was plagiarised from his own work, claiming he had written a similar script earlier. Dhar has denied the allegations, calling them defamatory.
Court advises legal recourse
The Court pointed out that if Kumar believed his work had been copied, he was free to pursue appropriate civil remedies rather than making claims in the media.
Kumar’s advocate clarified that his client’s grievance was limited to asserting authorship of the story. The Court assured that Kumar was entitled to make such a claim, but stressed that it should be done through proper legal channels.
Arguments from both sides
Senior Advocate Birendra Saraf, appearing for Dhar, submitted that any such claim must be pursued legally and not repeated publicly. Kumar’s counsel said he would seek instructions on this suggestion.
Next hearing scheduled
The Court also noted that it hoped to bring the dispute to a close at the next hearing.
Dhar had moved the High Court seeking an injunction and damages after Kumar allegedly failed to respond to a legal notice denying plagiarism claims. Earlier, on April 8, the Court had restrained Kumar from repeating the allegedly defamatory statements.
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According to the suit, Kumar claimed that the script was copied from his work ‘D Saheb’. Dhar has denied the allegations, maintaining that they are baseless and have caused serious harm to his professional reputation. The matter has been posted for further hearing on April 30.
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