Marathi director Sarika Mene has alleged that the Hindi movie October has lifted crucial plot points and characters from her 2017 production Aarti – The Unknown Love Story.
October, which stars Varun Dhawan and debutant Banita Sandhu, was released on April 13.
Mene has filed a non-cognisable criminal complaint against the makers of October at the Vile Parle police station in Mumbai. She has also filed complaints with the Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Chitrapat Maha Mandal, which represents Marathi filmmakers, and the trade bodies Indian Motion Pictures Producers’ Association and Screen Writers Association. The filmmakers have denied the allegation.
Directed by Shoojit who has made films such as Piku and Pink, and written by Juhi Chaturvedi, October revolves around Dan (Dhawan) whose life undergoes a turmoil, when he starts taking care of his colleague Shiuli (Banita Sandhu) when she is hospitalised after a fatal fall. Aarti – The Unknown Love Story, which was released in Maharashtra on August 18, 2017, is about Sunny (Roshan Vichare), who nurses his comatose girlfriend Aarti (Ankita Bhoir) for years until her death.
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Shoojit Sircar has issued the following statement on behalf of his company, Rising Sun Pictures, which has co-produced October: “We understand that there are some allegations of copyright infringement against our film October. We are creative people and have full faith in our work and our team, which has given extraordinary films like Piku, Pink etc. We have not heard of the film Aarti nor do we have full details of the matter as yet. We are sensitive towards feelings of film makers. We will look into this and deal with it appropriately.”