No stay on 'Fan'; court asks Shah Rukh Khan, Yash Raj Films to respond to copyright case

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court refused to stay the release of Shah Rukh Khan-starrer film Fan following a suit filed by a writer alleging copyright infringement, but asked the actor and the movies producer Yash Raj Films to file their replies within two weeks. Fan is scheduled for release on 15 April. [caption id=“attachment_2724478” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Shah Rukh Khan has reason to smile: Court says no to stay on ‘Fan’ in copyright violation case[/caption] Justice Gautam Patel was hearing a suit filed by writer-director Mahesh Doijode, who claimed that he wrote a script, which has similarities with Fan, in 1994 and had registered it with the Film Writers Association under the name Abhineta in 1997. Doijode claimed he had narrated the story to director Yash Chopra in 1997 when the latter was shooting for his film Dil Toh Pagal Hai. He said Chopra had liked the concept. He further claimed that following this, in 1998, he narrated the story to Shah Rukh Khan also. Doijode claimed that Yash Chopra had later asked him to get in touch with Aditya Chopra for further discussion, but nothing materialised. “However, when I saw the trailer of the movie Fan, I realised it was similar to the script written by me,” he said. Doijode approached the high court seeking the movie to be stayed pending hearing of his suit, and also sought Rs 25 crore in damages from Shah Rukh Khan and Yash Raj Films. Justice Patel today refused to stay the release of the movie, but asked the respondents, including Khan and Yash Raj Films, to file their affidavits within two weeks.