Shirish Kunder responds to plagiarism claim with legal action

Shirish Kunder on Monday filed a legal notice against a Nepali filmmaker, who claimed that the Bollywood filmmaker's short movie "Kriti" is a copy of his film. He has also sought a written apology.

After Kunder's "Kriti" started garnering plaudits on social media, Nepali filmmaker Aneel Neupane accused him of "practically stealing the plot" of his movie "Bob".

In reaction to the allegations, Kunder has sent a legal notice to Neupane through his advocate.

The notice, a copy of which is with IANS, states that Kunder made 'Kriti' as a "professional film".

"Kunder completed shooting the film in February 2016. It then went into post-production and was published on June 22, 2016."

Neupane alleged that "Bob" was ready in October 2015 and that he uploaded it on Vimeo "as a private video to share it with close friends" before releasing it on YouTube on May 12 this year.

In response to that, Kunder's notice reads that he could "not have obtained a copy" of "Bob". In fact, he says that since the script of "Kriti" was available with a few people, it is "entirely possible" that Neupane came across it and then put "Bob" together.

"Assuming your position is correct that the two films are so similar, then it is you who has infringed our client's copyright," the notice to Neupane read.

In "Kriti", Manoj Bajpayee is seen suffering from a psychological disorder, while Radhika Apte and Neha Sharma play crucial roles with Manu Rishi also essaying a role. The film is for the online platform muvizz.com but has been uploaded on Youtube as well.

Kunder has demanded that Neupane tenders an "unconditional written apology", refrains from making any oral or written comments on "Kriti" and takes down "Bob" from the internet immediately and refrain from publishing the same or any part thereof on any other medium.

"Kriti", an 18-minute short film, was released online on June 22. The film is getting rave responses from members of the film fraternity and critics a like. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also appreciated Kunder for it.