'Bala' makers face fresh summons for plagiarism in Jaipur

: Jaipur District Court on Monday summoned Maddock Films Private Limited, producers of the upcoming Ayushmann Khurrana-starrer "Bala", to be present in court on November 6 for hearing in a plagiarism case.

The case is based on an appeal by local resident Naman Goyal, who alleged that the story and concept of "Bala" had been lifted from his short film, "The Beginning To Get Bald".

GD Bansal, who represents the complainant in court, said that apart from accusing Maddock Films of copying several scenes and content from his short film, Goyal had also accused that a portion of the "Bala" trailer had lifted high points from "The Beginning To Get Bald".

The appeal was submitted on November 2 by Goyal against the producers as well as director and writer of the film on charges of copyright violation, acting on which summons were sent to Maddock Films.

The summons have been duly received, said Bansal.

The district court has directed Maddock Films to either be present in court or else designate a pleader to attend the hearing on November 6. If both situations are not met, the hearing would continue in their absence, said the court summon.

Writer-director Naman Goyal's "The Beginning To Get Bald" is a 20-minute film in English language, produced by New York Film Academy in 2010.

The short film won the Best Film Audience Choice Award in Miniboxoffice Film International and was released on Facebook in 2016, and is accessible to all.

Maddock Films was founded by Bollywood producer Dinesh Vijan in 2014. The banner has in the past been involved with the production of films such as "Stree", "Luka Chuppi", "Hindi Medium", "Made In China", "Raabta" and "Arjun Patiala".

"Bala", which is scheduled to release on November 7, had earlier courted controversy for its similarity of theme and storyline with last week's release, "Ujda Chaman".

( With inputs from IANS )