Bombay High Court Restrains Filmmaker Santosh Kumar From Making Defamatory Comments Against Aditya Dhar Over 'Dhurandhar' Script

In a temporary respite for Aditya Dhar, director of the recently released Bollywood film Dhurandhar, the Bombay High Court on Wednesday restrained filmmaker Santosh Kumar from making any comments regarding the film, which could be defamatory.

Single-judge Justice Arif Doctor heard the brief submissions of senior advocate Dr Birendra Saraf who represented Dhar and urged the court to pass at least interim order as Kumar continued to make defamatory statements in the media against the film and also against his client (Dhar).

Having considered the contention, Justice Doctor passed an ex-parte interim order, restraining Kumar from making comments or repeating comments made against Dhar and his film till further orders.

The bench while observing that a 'prima facie' case was made out by Dhar at this stage, therefore, issued notice to Kumar and adjourned the matter for further hearing till April 16.

According to Dhar, soon after the film's second part (Dhurandhar: The Revenge) was released, Kumar addressed a press conference and made certain allegations of plagiarism. It is contended that Kumar accused Dhar of 'copying' his script which he claimed to have registered with the Screenwriters Association in 2023.

Kumar had claimed that he had discussed his original script titled 'D Saheb' with several major production houses but even before anything could proceed further, Dhar copied his script and made the film in question.

"The Plaintiff and his team were shocked and dismayed to come across numerous videos/video clips recorded during or extracted from the recording of the said Press Meet, which have been independently uploaded, republished and circulated by various accounts, including but not limited to the said Accounts, thereby resulting in widespread and repeated dissemination of the Defamatory Statements. During the course of the said Press Meet, Defendant No. 1has made several false, scandalous, grossly defamatory, derogatory and denigrating statements about the Plaintiff which harm and malign the reputation and goodwill ofthe Plaintiff, before the world at large," the suit reads.

Saraf informed the court that after Kumar's press conference, his client Dhar issued a legal notice to Kumar and urged him to refrain from making any 'unsubstantiated' allegations of plagiarism. The filmmaker further maintained that the allegations were baseless and defamatory and that it 'damaged' his repute.

The senior advocate also argued that since in the press conference itself, Kumar had warned of legal action, thus, he was free to initiate legal proceedings pertaining to the alleged infringement.

"A proper response will be given to the legal proceedings, initiated, if any. But till then, he must refrain from using such a language," Saraf urged the court.

Despite the legal notice, Kumar chose not to respond to the same and even did not turn up for the hearing on Wednesday.

Having heard the contentions, Justice Dhar granted ad-interim relief by restraining Kumar from making any further defamatory comments.

The matter will be next heard on April 16.