Phillauri escapes legal trouble before release; Bombay HC rejects copyright infringement case

A couple of days before its release, Anshai Lal’s Phillauri found itself in legal trouble, almost. A Bhojpuri film producer moved Bombay High Court for a copyright infringement case against the makers of the film.

Mid-Day reports that Dashrath Rathod, a Bhojpuri actor-cum-producer, filed a case against the makers 0f Phillauri for allegedly copying the plot of his 2013 trilingual film titlled Mangal Phera. The producer, who owns a production banner named Gayatri Cine Production, sent a legal notice to the makers of Phillauri and then eventually filed a case in the court after getting an unsatisfactory reply.

Rathod appealed to the court to put a stay on the release of the film. However, the court turned the tables on Rathod by rejecting the prima facie case and refused to entertain his demand to stay the release of the film since the release date was merely a couple of days away. India Today reports that the judge even slammed a fine of Rs 5 lakh on Rathod for wasting the precious time of the court.

However, the same report states that Rathod intends to challenge the order of the court. He is waiting for the court order to be given in his hands so that his legal team can study it and appeal against it.

The story of his film, Mangal Phera, also revolved around a maanglik character who gets married to a tree. The tree is the shelter of a ghost who then falls for the maanglik woman. Going by the trailer of Phillauri, the film also features Suraj Sharma’s character who is forced to marry a tree that houses the spirit of Anushka Sharma’s character Shashi.

Phillauri also stars Diljit Dosanjh and is produced by Fox Star India and Anushka and her brother Karnesh Sharma’s Clean Slate Films. It is slated to release on 24 March.