Akshay Kumar starer “Toilet…Ek Prem Katha” has found itself in thick soup after Udaipur based Praveen Vyas has alleged that the script of this movie is plagiarized from “Manini”, a short film that was written and produced by Vyas.

Praveen Vyas has sent a legal notice to the producers of “Toilet…” seeking a stay on the promotion and trailors of the movie, alleging content theft.  He is also deliberating on the taking the producers to court for the alleged content theft.

Released in 2016, Praveen’s short film “Manini” was based on the “Swachh Bharat” concepts and shows a married woman taking up the mantle of facilitating toilets in her village where she is married.  Her husband supports her initiative and the village is educated towards setting up toilets and discouraged from defecating in the open.  “Toilet…” has got a similar story line and Praveen alleges that even some scenes as well as dialogues are a direct life from “Manini”.  Manini has also been the recipient of the third prize at the International Film Festival 2016, held in Goa and has received a certificate of appreciation from the Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting.

A snap from short film Manini | Source Courtesy: YouTube Screengrab

A two week time period was given to the producers to respond to the notice, following which Praveen has warned of legal action through courts of law.  Vyas said, “It’s plot was novel and the characters unique and my docu-feature was commended for its creativity and treatment. No one can make another cinematographic work or any other derivative work without my written consent if their work directly resembles mine.“

On the other hand, Viacom 18 Motion Pictures, the people behind “Toilet…” have denied the allegations, saying, “These allegations are baseless and border on harassment. The script of our film has been registered under our writers’ names, Siddharth and Garima, with the authorised industry association since 2013. Furthermore, the film has been in the public domain through various news stories since July 2015. We firmly deny all the claims made by this gentleman who is obviously misled. It is sad that genuine producers have become soft targets for this kind of nuisance.” 

Source: Media Reports