The clash between two similar films: Sunny Singh starrer Ujda Chaman and Ayushmann Khurrana’s Bala, which are set to release around the same time next month, has reached the court. According to a Desi Martini report, Ujda Chaman producer Kumar Mangat Pathak has filed a court against the makers of Bala in the Bombay High Court, the first hearing of which will be held on Thursday.
Ujda Chaman director Abhishek Pathak had earlier objected to Bala’s trailer and new release date which has been shifted to just a day before the former hits theatres. Ujda Chaman, a remake of the 2017 Kannada movie Ondu Motteya Kathe, features Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety actor Sunny Singh as a young bald man.
Bala stars Ayushmann as a young bald man and the film’s poster and subsequently even the trailer was similar to Ujda Chaman. Talking about the issue, Abhishek had said, “There are some similarities that can be seen between Bala and Ujda Chaman. I don’t know what’s happening. I came with my trailer on October 1 and they came out with it around 10-11 October. So this question should be asked to them that how is it similar? If they had seen my trailer, they should have done something… at least, change something.” He added that not only the idea, even the dialogues and screenplay of Bala looks similar to his.
Abhishek, who had earlier sent a notice to Maddock Films, also said, “I know the original film so well and mine is an official remake. People don’t know yet, because they are just seeing the trailer, but I know. I can see the glimpses of the original film in that trailer (Bala). So, I was like fine, let the legal team handle it.”
He added, “We had sent them a notice when we bought the rights, early 2019 because even their announcement had come around the same time. I gave them all the documents because their film sounded similar. They said except for the character being bald, nothing is similar and I bought their words. But now that doesn’t seem to be the case. Dialogues, situation, everything seems similar and even people have caught it.”
“I respected the Kannada filmmaker by signing agreement and putting it everywhere that it’s a remake and someone just making it… There are so many films, which are official remakes, so there’s nothing like you want to be the first one, who thought about this idea. No. If someone has thought about it, give him that respect. Why you want to take a flag and say, ‘We thought about it?” While Bala was originally scheduled to release a week after Ujda Chaman, it’ll now open a day before: November 7.
Abhishek had also asked why the release date of Bala was changed to bring it closer to the release date of Ujda Chaman. “First you said Nov 22, then Nov 15 and now Nov 7. How is it going to change the dynamics of my film? And you have a big star. If you were coming on Nov 15, I wasn’t going to eat into your business.”
Ujda Chaman is scheduled to release on November 8 whereas Bala will now hit theatres on November 7.
