Akshay Kumar's Pad Man had barely completed two days at the box office before the makers were accused of plagiarism.
Ripu Daman Jaiswal, a writer, posted a series of tweets claiming that nearly a dozen scenes from his script have been used in Pad Man, without his permission.
The writer has threatened to go to court against co-producers KriArj Entertainment, Twinkle Khanna and others. However, Dharma Productions is likely to be dragged first.
Jaiswal claimed he had submitted his script to Dharma Productions in 2016 and was shocked to learn that some of the scenes in Pad Man have been directly lifted from it.
Today (10 February), Jaiswal shared an image of a page from his script highlighting a dialogue that he alleged was used verbatim by Amitabh Bachchan’s character in Pad Man.
The page also has a stamp by the Screenwriters' Association dated 5 December 2016.
“I remember I was in the library when I wrote this dialogue and was truly elated. Honestly, I surprised myself that day. Tell me, how on earth can you steal someone’s dialogue? This is unfair,” Jaiswal tweeted.
However, he was dejected to learn that Twinkle Khanna was planning to make a film on the life of social entrepreneur Arunachalam Muruganantham.
“I was completely devastated but I couldn't have pointed the allegation at that time because Twinkle Khanna had said that they were making a film on his life. And I hadn't written a film on his life. Not even a single scene has been inspired by his life," he wrote.
According to Jaiswal, "I have taken the subject and created my own fictional world around that subject. At first, I started writing a film on his life but then I quit because during my research, I discovered that Arunachalam doesn't make 'biodegradable' sanitary pads and he utilizes machine to make sanitary pads which rural women can't make by themselves."
He said he was also afraid that producers would not accept a film based on Muruganantham's life because what he had developed had already been developed by students at MIT. "I thought I should be honest while writing a biopic and if I can't be honest I shouldn't write it,” Jaisal wrote.
The writer then watched the trailer of Pad Man and found that certain scenes were similar to the ones in the script he had submitted. In the Facebook post, he also said he was looking for a lawyer who could help him with the matter.
If he does go to court, the makers of Pad Man and Dharma Productions may have to explain how the scenes in Pad Man are so similar to Jaiswal's work.
Cinestaan.com tried contacting Jaiswal but did not get any response. Pad Man is co-produced by Twinkle Khanna's Mrs Funnybones Movies, KriArj Entertainment, Cape of Good Films, SPE Films India, and Hope Productions. The film is co-written by director R Balki and Swanand Kirkire.