Last week the trailer of a horror series called ‘Betaal’ was released, showcasing a haunted story about a team asked to clear away the inhabitants of a village, and their subsequent involvement in unleashing an army of zombies. Starring Viineet Kumar, Aahana Kumra, Suchitra Pillai, Jitendra Joshi, Manjiri Pupala, and Syna Anand, the scary plot immediately intrigued viewers.
According to Hindustan Times, the makers of the upcoming horror series have landed in legal trouble as Marathi writers Sameer Wadekar and Mahesh Goswami have alleged that the story has been lifted from their zombie film called ‘Vetaal’. They have filed a case against Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment and Netflix, producers of the show.
After the trailer of ‘Betaal’ was unveiled, Sameer and Mahesh moved Bombay High Court, reports News18. Sameer was quoted saying,
“We had taken our script to several production houses. We hadn’t pitched it to Red Chillies Entertainment, so the onus isn’t on them, but on the platform that commissioned it. I haven’t been able to figure out how [the idea] reached them.”
“I am told the show went on floors in July 2019, a year after my script was registered with the Screen Writers’ Association [SWA]. We’ve registered a complaint with the SWA too.”
Sameer mentioned that were at least 10 plot points that were similar in both the stories. “We have depicted zombies as descendants of the Vetaal army from Shivaji’s era while, in Betaal, they are shown as belonging to the British era. We had written a sequence where the army dances to folk music during a procession. A similar scene is included in their trailer,” he added.
However, the high court has dismissed their petition to put a stay on the series. But the writers are allowed to seek damages if the plagiarism charges are proved. Some time back, rapper Badshah, who was also accused of plagiarism, had acknowledged and given due credits to the rightful owner. Well, stealing another person’s work or ideas is never a good deed, is it? What do you think? Tell us!