Netflix's upcoming original show Betaal which is produced by Shah Rukh Khan's Red Chillies Entertainment has landed in a plagiarism row. Two Marathi writers have claimed that the story has been copied from their zombie film script called Vetaal.
The writers Sameer Wadekar and Mahesh Goswami have filed a case against Shah Rukh Khan's production house and Netflix. The writers moved Bombay High Court after the trailer was released last week. Talking to a tabloid, Sameer said that they had approached several production houses with their script, but Red Chillies Entertainment was not one of them. He said that he has not been able to figure out how the idea reached them. He also said that the show went on floors in July 2019, a year after his script was registered with the Screenwriters Association(SWA).
The writers have also registered a complaint with the SWA too. Meanwhile, Betaal is written by Patrick Graham and Suhani Kanwar and revolves around a counter-insurgency squad that aims to displace tribals from a village. On the other hand, Wadekar said that their story is centred on an environmentalist who opposes a mining company that tries to drive away the villagers. Wadekar said that there are at least 10 plot points that are similar.
While, the High Court has dismissed their petition they said that the writers can seek damages if the plagiarism charges are proved.
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