There is tremendous speculation in the film industry that Amar Kaushik’s Bala, starring Ayushmann Khurrana and produced by Dinesh Vijan, may get preponed, as Abhishek Pathak’s movie, Ujda Chaman (both based on the concept of a young, prematurely balding bachelor), has moved ahead to November 1. But there is a glitch - there is a court hearing (Abhishek had filed a petition citing copyright infringement) on the issue on November 4 and till the matter is resolved, it seems unlikely that Bala can release before that.
Earlier, when the makers of Ujda Chaman had decided to release on November 8, Bala had shifted to November 7. Abhishek’s movie is an official remake of the Kannada movie Ondu Motteya Kathe, starring Sunny Singh, Maanvi Gagroo and Saurabh Shukla and is produced by Kumar Mangat Pathak and Abhishek.
Says a trade source, “Abhishek Pathak had filed a petition citing copyright infringement with the Supreme Court to stall the release of Ayushmann Khurrana's Bala, as it was releasing just a day (November 7) before his movie. The petition stated that there were similarities between the storylines of Bala and Ujda Chaman. There will be a court hearing on the issue on November 4 so one doesn’t know how Bala can come on November 1. There was also a screening of Bala on October, 19, where Abhishek saw the movie. No mobile phones or equipment were allowed to be carried for the screening. The concept may be same and though Bala is a bigger film, nobody wants similar concept-based movies to come out before them. Nobody is wrong here.”
Abhishek Pathak says, “I have the official remake rights of the Kannada movie Ondu Motteya Kathe which we have remade to Ujda Chaman. I preponed our movie as I wanted to give us both a solo week. It’s a much fairer deal for them but tougher competition for us as we have three Diwali releases the week before us but this way, we can have our own share of revenues. Let both films earn. They have been shifting their dates and I don’t want to get into an ego battle because egos are not bigger than the film industry. Theirs is a bigger film but now that we have shifted, both movies will get a solo release. I don’t know or understand why they keep shifting their dates… Are they not confident about their product or were they shaken up after watching my trailer?”
The director says he tried to reach out to the Bala producers, including Dinesh Vijan. “Initially, I tried reaching out to their banner Maddock Films, when they were about to start the movie. I told them that the rights of movie Ondu Motteya Kathe were with me and sent them a legal notice also, to which they confirmed that the only similarities were with the bald character. But now, when I saw the Bala trailer, I saw there were lots of similarities. They had announced their release date as November 15, that’s why I moved to November 8 and then they changed theirs to November 7.”
Has Abhishek seen Bala on October 19? He says, “Yes, I have seen Bala but I am not allowed to talk about it as the matter is under sub-judice.”
A source close to Dinesh Vijan says that as of now they are not shifting the release date from November 7.
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