Mumbai
Actor Amitabh Bachchan on Monday shared the first poster of his upcoming film, Jhund. The film has been directed by Nagraj Manjule, known for his award-winning Marathi film, Sairat.
Sharing the film poster, Amitabh simply wrote ‘Jhund’, tagging a whole host of people, including Nagraj. In the picture, we see Amitabh with his back to the camera. He is wearing, what appears to be a sweatshirt with a hoodie and a pair of jeans. His hands seem to be crossed in front. He is facing a boundary wall, with what appears to be, an expanse of the city slum opening up beyond the wall. A dilapidated mini van is stationed outside the wall.
In Jhund, Amitabh plays an elderly football coach who trains a bunch of slum kids to achieve glory in the sport. The film is reportedly based on the life of Slum Soccer founder Vijay Barse. Amitabh had shot for the film in Nagpur through last year.
In November last year, a Hyderabad-based filmmaker Nandi Chinni Kumar sent legal notices to makers of the film and actor Amitabh Bachchan for copyright infringement. Kumar, an independent filmmaker, sent the notices to Jhund director and producer, Nagraj Manjule, producer Krishan Kumar, T-Series Chairman and Managing Director Bhushan Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan and Vijay Barse.
The filmmaker told IANS that he got the reply to the notice only from T-Series but it was ‘very vague’. Alleging that he was cheated and criminally intimidated by makers of the film, Kumar planned to move the court to stop screening of the movie in theatres, television and all digital platforms.
The short filmmaker claims that he bought exclusive rights in 2017 to make a movie on the life of Akhilesh Paul, a slum soccer player who was the Indian captain at the Homeless World Cup. Kumar had planned to write and direct the multilingual movie tentatively titled Slum Soccer on the life of Akhilesh, who was born in slums of Nagpur and was addicted to drugs. However, his passion for football changed his life and he went on to lead India in Homeless World Cup.
The filmmaker claims to have registered the story and script with Telangana Cinema Writers Association on June 11, 2018. “Though Nagaraj Manjule, director of Marathi blockbuster Sairat, bought rights to make a movie on the life of Vijay Barse, who is the coach of Akhilesh Paul, his film Jhund also showcases Akhilesh’s story in a major role, thus allegedly violating the copyrights.”
According to him, Nagraj Manjule claimed to have bought rights from Akhilesh Paul for Rs 4 lakh but was reluctant to show the documents. “Even Akhilesh denied selling him the rights. Nagraj humiliated me and forced to come for settlement without showing papers,” Kumar said.
The Hyderabad-based filmmaker also alleged that Savita Raj, one of the producers of Jhund, threatened his producer in September 2019 claiming Akhilesh Paul’s copyrights are with them.
Kumar said he has sent an email to Amitabh Bachchan and to Nagaraj and Jhund’s producers exposing copyright infringement and criminal intimidation but there was no reply. He has also written to India Movie Pictures Producers Association (IMPPA) and Telangana Cinema Writers Association and urged the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) not to issue censor certificate to the movie Jhund.
