Toilet: Ek Prem Katha - Idea is in public domain, not plagiarised, argues film's counsel in court

Jaipur: A local court here on Tuesday, 1 August, continued to hear arguments for the second day in succession in a case of violation of the Copyright Act by makers of Akshay Kumar-starrer Toilet: Ek Prem Katha. “The arguments continued for the whole day today and tomorrow again it will continue in Jaipur Metropolitan Court,” said GD Bansal, advocate for Jaipur-based filmmaker Pratik Sharma, said here on Tuesday. [caption id=“attachment_3294318” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Bhumi Pednekar and Akshay Kumar in the first look of Toilet: Ek Prem Katha. Image from Twitter[/caption] A copyright infringement case was brought up by Sharma against Plan C Studios, an alliance between Reliance Entertainment and Friday Filmworks helmed by Neeraj Pandey and Shital Bhatia, and Viacom18 on 7 July in a Jaipur Metropolitan Court. Sharma alleged that the makers have lifted the punchline and the subject from his film Gutrun Gutar Gun. SS Hora, counsel of Viacom 18 told IANS: “We argued on four major points. First, there can’t be copyright of an idea or a concept. Secondly, what he [Sharma] claims is already in public domain, a real life fact in India, it is not his creation. “Third, he being in the film industry, he knew that the film would come out on this concept on 2 July, 2015 and he sat over all this while, and fourth — various stake holders in the film are not before the court, he knows all of them but that he has not made them party is a defect. So, no relief should be given to the plaintiff.” The Jaipur Metropolitan Court on 26 July asked the makers of Toilet: Ek Prem Katha to file a reply or enter into arguments in the case of copyright violation on 31 July. The court had earlier issued a notice returnable on 22 July, but as a strike by the clerical staff was going on, the court gave the respondents 26 July as a new date for filing their reply. Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, directed by Shree Narayan Singh, deals with the need of sanitation in India and is based on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Swachh Bharat campaign. It features Bhumi Pednekar with Akshay.