Filmmaker Praveen Vyas, has sent a legal notice to the filmmakers of Akshay Kumar‘s upcoming movie “Toilet: Ek Prem Katha“. The film is based on the importance of toilets in rural areas, which is directed by Shree Narayan Singh and co-produced by Akshay Kumar and Neeraj Pandey. The film will star Akshay Kumar and Bhumi Pednekar in the lead roles, with Anupam Kher, and Sana Khan in supporting roles.
Praveen Vyas docu-feature ‘Manini’ has won the third prize among 4500 entries themed around the Swachh Bharat Mission at last year’s International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa. Praveen claims that several scenes and dialogues from the upcoming movie ‘Toilet: Ek Prem Katha’ are a direct copy of his documentary film ‘Manini’. On this he said,”Manini follows the female protagonist as she protests against lack of a toilet in her marital home on the first night of her marriage after female relatives wake her up before sunrise to tend to nature’s call in an open field. The scenes in Toilet: Ek Prem Katha’s trailer shows the same interaction between characters.”
Moreover, Praveen informed that his lawyer will send a legal notice to the filmmakers and appealed for a stay order on the film on June 15, stating that it is an infringement of his copyright with respect to the central theme. Praveen said,”The makers of Toilet: Ek Prem Katha had two weeks, which was extended to a further seven days, to respond to the notice. They reverted through their legal team at Naik Naik & Co. on June 28,” He added, “Since they have denied all our allegations and refused to monetarily compensate us for the origin of idea and script, we will now be fighting this in court.”
Co-founder of Friday Filmworks Shital Bhatia, who is also co-producing Akshay Kumar’s upcoming movie “Toilet: Ek Prem Katha” with Neeraj Pandey and Akshay, denied Praveen’s allegations by saying,”These allegations are baseless and border on harassment. The script of our film has been registered under our writers’ names, Siddharth and Garima, with the authorised industry association since 2013. Furthermore, the film has been in the public domain through various news stories since July 2015. We firmly deny all the claims made by this gentleman who is obviously misled. It is sad that genuine producers have become soft targets for this kind of nuisance.”
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