'Cheat India': Emraan Hashmi, Mahesh Bhatt accused of plagiarism
Emraan Hashmi's maiden production venture 'Cheat India' has landed in trouble. As per a media report, Delhi-based writer Dinesh Gautam and actor Imran Zahid have alleged that the storyline of 'Cheat India' has been plagiarised from their film titled 'Marksheet'. The duo claimed to have discussed their idea with Mahesh Bhatt a few years back.
The veteran filmmaker has been associated with the two complainants for a while now. Bhatt even presented a play written by Dinesh and featuring Imran, titled 'Baat Niklegi Toh', in June last year. The duo stated it was during the staging of their play that they shared with Bhatt the idea of 'Marksheet'. They have also registered with the Indian Script Writers Association.
Speaking to a leading daily, Dinesh said, "We have filed an official complaint with the Writers Association and will also be sending legal notices to the producers. The script may not have been copied verbatim, but the concepts are the same." "We shared every bit of our story with Bhatt saab and everybody knows how small this industry is. This is embarrassing," he added.
T-Series and Ellipsis Entertainment are co-producing 'Cheat India' along with Emraan's production house. Refuting the plagiarism charges, a top executive associated with the film said, "Some nondescript people are trying to gain publicity by piggy-backing on a big banner film. From '3 Idiots' and 'Chalk N Duster' to 'Aarakshan', hundreds of films have been based on our education system."
Emraan is looking to end his dry run at the box office with 'Cheat India'. It will be hitting the screens on 25 January 2019. Interestingly, the film will clash with Hrithik Roshan's 'Super 30' which also has education as its backdrop. The serial kisser of Bollywood was last seen in 'Baadshaho' alongside Ajay Devgn, Ileana D'Cruz, Esha Gupta, Vidyut Jammwal and Sanjay Mishra.
