Bombay HC bars filmmaker Santosh Kumar from claiming Aditya Dhar stole Dhurandhar's script from him

Bombay HC has restrained filmmaker Santosh Kumar from repeating his allegations against Aditya Dhar regarding his Ranveer Singh-starrer hit Dhurandhar.

As his recent release, Dhurandhar: The Revenge, continues to break box-office records, director Aditya Dhar has also received relief from the court in a case concerning alleged script theft. On Wednesday, the Bombay High Court passed an interim order restraining filmmaker Santosh Kumar from repeating his allegation that director Aditya Dhar stole the script of Dhurandhar from him.

Aditya Dhar's Dhurandhar stars Ranveer Singh in the lead role.

Filmmaker barred from making allegations against Aditya Dhar

Aditya Dhar moved the HC, claiming that Santosh Kumar's repeated media allegations are defamatory and damage his reputation. Justice Arif Doctor, while passing an interim order, noted that Dhar made a prima facie case for the grant of such relief.

"Until the next date, the defendant (Kumar) shall be restrained from repeating words and remarks set out in the suit (filed by Dhar) and all other allegations of a similar nature," the court said. The next hearing is scheduled for April 16.

Dhurandhar was released in December. Starring Ranveer Singh, the spy thriller was a critical and commercial success, minting ₹1300 crore worldwide, and setting a new domestic collection record for Bollywood. The record was broken by its sequel - Dhurandhar: The Revenge - which released last month.

After the release of Dhurandhar 2, Santosh Kumar made the allegations saying that the plot of Dhurandhar 2 was copied from his registered script titled 'D Saheb'. The filmmaker added that his script was registered with the Screenwriters Association of India (SWA) and he would take legal action against Dhar.

Aditya Dhar initially issued a legal notice to Kumar denying any plagiarism, asking him not to make further allegations. However, when the latter failed to respond, Dhar moved the Bombay HC through DSK Legal. Birendra Saraf, Aditya Dhar's counsel, told the court that the repeated accusations were causing irreparable damage to the filmmaker's reputation.

About Dhurandhar

Dhurandhar and Dhurandhar 2 were initially planned as a single film, split into two just weeks before the December release. Aditya Dhar said the decision was taken due to the length of the edited footage. In the end, the two films had a combined runtime of over seven hours. Apart from Ranveer, the two films also star Akshaye Khanna, Arjun Rampal, R Madhavan, Sanjay Dutt, Rakesh Bedi, and Sara Arjun.

Dhurandhar 2 has become the first Bollywood film to earn ₹1000 crore net domestically. Globally, the film has grossed over ₹1600 crore, becoming the second-highest-grossing Hindi film of all time.