Daily Times

Ayushmann Khurrana’s upcoming film ‘Bala’ has landed in another soup. A case of copyright violation has been filed in Bombay High Court against the writer Niren Bhatt and producer of the film Maddock Films, according to a report in Mumbai Mirror.

Praveen Morchhale is the complainant and claims the film’s concept has been copied from his script titled Mr Yogi. He told Mumbai Mirror, “I read a news article on Bala being a satirical comedy about premature balding, which was an idea I had conceived in 2005. I worked on it for two years and registered the story with the Film Writers’ Association (FWA) in 2007. After compiling information from various sources, I have arrived at the conclusion that Bala is very similar to my story and screenplay.”

He added that he has not met anybody associated with the film. “But the case isn’t about meeting or narrating the film to them. I’ve met hundreds of people and narrated my story to them, anyone could have put the idea in their minds. Since I have registered my concept and script, I can narrate it to as many people as I want, nobody can copy it,” the director said.

Praveen Morchhale is the complainant and claims the film’s concept has been copied from his script titled Mr Yogi. He told Mumbai Mirror, ‘I read a news article on ‘Bala’ being a satirical comedy about premature balding, which was an idea I had conceived in 2005. I worked on it for two years and registered the story with the Film Writers’ Association (FWA) in 2007′

Maddock Films, however, denied the allegations. An official statement said, “Maddock is not aware of any case being filed against it by Mr Morchhale and denies that he has anything to do with its film Bala. Nobody from Maddock has ever met with Mr Morchhale or is even aware of him being associated with a story of a bald man.”

Bala will narrate the story of a prematurely balding man, played by Khurrana, and a small-town girl (Bhumi Pednekar) battling skin-colour prejudices in a society obsessed with fair skin.

Director Amar Kaushik had described Bala while speaking to PTI in April. He said, “It is a slice of life humorous film. We are also trying to put some message, not in a preachy way though. I want people to enjoy what we make. I need to also make sure no one will take offence that we are talking about baldness. I will be making sure that it doesn’t happen.”