Madhur Bhandarkar can heave a sigh of relief as a Delhi court has rejected author Seema Seth's plea against the filmmaker. Seema had accused Bhandarkar, writer Ajay Monga and producer Ronnie Screvwala (UTV) of plagiarism saying that their 2008 film Fashion was in accordance with her book El Dorado. The book was incidentally published 3 months before Fashion's release in October 2008.
Seth requested the court to book Bhandarkar for violation of the Copyright Act, because the idea of the tale were taken from the book without her permission. However, Additional Chief Magistrate Sanjay Sharma dismissed the plea saying there can't be a copyright in an concept or plot, subject matter, themes or legendary facts.
The next hearing is scheduled to happen on August 8 and Seema was asked to bring substantial evidence to validate her claims.
