Daughter of Hussain Ustara, Sanober Shaikh, sought a permanent injunction against the release of Vishal Bharadwaj’s upcoming Shahid Kapoor-starrer O Romeo on Monday. Filing a lawsuit at a Mumbai civil court, Sanober claimed that the film was an ‘unauthorised’ biopic of her late father and that it portrays his life ‘falsely’.
Hussain Ustara’s daughter files lawsuit against O Romeo makers
Sanober filed a civil suit against Sajid Nadiadwala, the producer of O Romeo, its director Vishal and journalist-author Hussain Zaidi. Shahid will portray Ustara in the film based on Zaidi’s book, Mafia Queens of Mumbai. The film is slated for release on February 13, but Sanober claimed in the suit that O Romeo was being produced with the ‘intent of commercial and monetary gain’ without her prior consent.
Her advocate, DV Saroj, filed the suit, in which it is mentioned that O Romeo is based on her father, who has been ‘portrayed as a gangster’. She fears that the movie’s release will cause ‘irreparable injury’ to her and her children, who have ‘every right to live in the world in peace and a good atmosphere’. “The release of the movie containing a false portrayal would have a serious implication on the plaintiffs' family members,” mentions the suit.
Sanober argued that her father contributed to preventing crimes across India and in Mumbai, helping the police track criminals. She asserted that the producer and director are ‘exploiting a human tragedy for commercial gain’ and that O Romeo’s release would ‘besmirch the character of a dead person’. The court will hear the matter on February 6.
{{/usCountry}}Sanober argued that her father contributed to preventing crimes across India and in Mumbai, helping the police track criminals. She asserted that the producer and director are ‘exploiting a human tragedy for commercial gain’ and that O Romeo’s release would ‘besmirch the character of a dead person’. The court will hear the matter on February 6.
{{/usCountry}}Legal notices previously sent by Hussain Ustara’s daughter
Sanober mentioned in the suit that in replies to legal notices sent by her, Vishal and Sajid’s production house vehemently denied her claims, asserting that O Romeo is purely a ‘work of fiction’. However, she submitted materials supporting her claim of a direct link between the film and her father, including a podcast interview in which a former police officer connected O Romeo to Ustara.
Sanober urged the court to grant a permanent injunction restraining O Romeo’s makers from releasing the film in theatres, on TV, or on any OTT platform on February 13 or any other day. In January, after the release of O Romeo’s teaser, Ustara’s daughter spoke to Hindustan Times and denied she had threatened the makers. “They are claiming and showing wrong things about my father. They are saying that we threatened them and asked for ₹2 crore. That’s wrong. They are making such claims for publicity of the film. We have sent them a legal notice,” she said.
Speaking to the press at the trailer launch, Vishal spoke about the issue and told the press, “This film is from the book, Mafia Queens of Mumbai, by Hussain Zaidi, and I’ve taken the rights of this story. I didn’t think (of the permission). The germ of the idea and the characters are the same, but we’ve added a lot of fictional elements, which permission Hussain Zaidi sahab has taken or should’ve taken. I don’t think it was needed for me to take permission because it is based on a book.”
O Romeo stars Shahid Kapoor, Triptii Dimri, Nana Patekar, Avinash Tiwary, Tamannaah Bhatia, Disha Patani, Farida Jalal and Vikrant Massey. It is produced by Sajid Nadiadwala under Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment and written and directed by Vishal Bharadwaj. It remains to be seen if the lawsuit hinders the film’s release on February 13.
With inputs from PTI
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