SC refuses to lift ban on release of Amitabh Bachchan starrer Jhund over copyright infringement

Problems for Amitabh Bachchan-starrer Jhund continue to mount as Supreme Court refused plea demanding to remove stay order on the release of the film.

A three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice of India, comprising of Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian dismissed the plea against the Telangana High Court order which had blocked the film's screening over the allegations of copyright infringement.

The appeal was filed by producer of the film Super Cassettes Industries (T Series).

“The special leave petitions are dismissed. As a sequel to the above, pending interlocutory applications, if any, stand disposed of,” the bench said in its order.

Jhund is based on the life of Vijay Barse, the founder of NGO Slum Soccer. It was scheduled to release in May but it got postponed due to the covid-19 pandemic it got halted. The film is now surrounded by the copyright allegation initiated by Hyderabad-based Nandi Chinni Kumar, who has claimed that he had purchased the right to make a movie about the life of Akhilesh Paul.

Paul had also appeared on television shows such as Satyameva Jayate, hosted by Aamir Khan. Kumar has claimed that he approached Paul after watching the show to make his life story into a movie.

Kumar further said that amount of Rs 1.3 crore was agreed between the parties but now they are not adhering to the agreement.

On September 17, the Telangana court had put stay order on the release of the movie till the conclusion of the case which will at least take 6 months to resolve.

Meanwhile, Super Cassettes, has said that 'Jhund' is not about Akhilesh Paul but his coach, Vijay Barse.

"Jhund is inspired by and revolves around the real story of a football coach, Vijay Barse who spotted a group of slum children playing football. Spotting talent and potential in them, Mr. Barse took them under his wing and coached them. The film is 'coach-centric'. The players in the team including its captain are secondary or incidental," the petition stated.