Shamshera copyright case: Delhi High Court refuses to stay probe against Dharma Productions (for now)

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday refused to grant an immediate stay on the criminal investigation against Dharma Productions in a copyright dispute concerning the Ranbir Kapoor-starrer Shamshera [Dharma Productions Private Limited Vs State of NCT Delhi]..Justice Ajay Digpaul, however, issued notice on Dharma’s main petition as well as its plea for interim relief.Dharma’s plea concerns a first information report (FIR) registered in 2024 on a complaint by filmmaker Bikramjeet Singh Bhullar, who claims that Shamshera's makers violated his copyright. Bhullar claims that the movie is based on his literary work ‘Kabu na chhadein khet.'.Dharma has argued that Bhullar had first approached the production house with his script Kabhu Na Chhadein Khet in 2007. Around 2017, Dharma decided not to pursue the project. Bhullar later alleged that Yash Raj Films (YRF) used his script for Shamshera. He also filed a criminal complaint against both YRF and Dharma.These criminal proceedings have been challenged by Dharma before the High Court. The Court today declined to grant Dharma immediate relief.However, Justice Digpaul has sought the response of the Delhi government and Bhullar in the matter. They have been asked to file their replies before the next court hearing on October 14. .Dharma was represented by Senior Advocate Madhav Khurana with a team from Wadia Ghandy & Co..YRF and its Chairman Aditya Chopra had already moved the High Court in the matter, challenging the registration of FIR No. 184/2024 at the Greater Kailash Police Station under Section 63 of the Copyright Act and Section 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal code.In January this year, Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani stayed further investigation against YRF and its Chairman, after observing that the copyright allegations had already been considered and rejected at the interim stage in a civil suit filed by Bhullar. That civil suit [Bikramjeet Singh Bhullar v Yash Raj Films & Ors] was decided at the interim stage by Justice Jyoti Singh on December 20, 2023, when Bhullar sought to block the telecast of Shamshera on OTT platforms..In his civil suit, Bhullar had claimed that his 2006 script, later made into a short film narrated by the late actor Om Puri, was substantially copied in Shamshera. He highlighted similarities such as the period-drama setting, father-son themes, revenge against foreign invaders, use of tunnels, burning oil, birds, the North star for navigation, and characters who undergo moral transformation.Justice Jyoti Singh had rejected the plea, holding that Bhullar was attempting to claim a monopoly over common tropes in Bollywood films.“There is no uniqueness in these ideas or expression … almost every author of a fiction would conjure them as consequential concomitant effects, as a matter of common grasp and scènes à faire which carry no copyright,” the Court observed, at the time. Concluding that no prima facie case of copyright infringement was made out, the Court proceeded to dismiss Bhullar's application for interim injunction in December 2023.