‘Audience has supported us’

Shirish Kunder’s Short film, Kriti has been embroiled in a controversy ever since a Nepali filmmaker accused the makers of Kriti of copying his own short film Bob. However, the makers of Kriti recently decided to fight back and have sent the Nepali filmmaker a legal notice. To make things clear, the team also called a press conference, which was attended by Shirish, the short film’s lead Manoj Bajpai and their lawyer Rizwan Siddiquee.

Explaining about the move, the team’s lawyer Rizwan Siddiquee said, “It (the accusation) seems like a pre-empted act. They (makers of the Nepali short film Bob) have manipulated the date on video platform, Vimeo. We want to make filmmakers aware because they can be victims tomorrow. He is not a reputed filmmaker and he hasn’t even responded to our notice. We are just defending our position, but we want YouTube to view this matter with clarity. If their case is right then they should go to court and get an injunction. One should keep in mind that YouTube is a public platform where date and time are mentioned while Vimeo is a private platform where date can be manipulated.”

The film’s lead actor, Manoj Bajpai expressed his concern over the allegation and said, “In my entire career, I have never been accused of copying. But now I am feeling sad that the credibility I’ve built over the years has come of no use. The idea came last year, when I was visiting Shirish on Eid. We were just talking and I asked Shirish if he had a script and he said he did, but that it was young character. He wasn’t even making short films back then. I feel bad because it was my idea to make a short film. But now we are being called thieves on social media. He is taking advantage by playing the poor card and that’s why people are going to him. But you look at his profile; he makes wedding videos, not films. However, people have liked our work and the audience is supporting us.”

On his part, the film’s director Shirish Kunder explained how he thinks he was scammed and said, “We came up with the idea in July last year and decided to shoot the film in February and release it in June. In between this, this man has decided to make use of the flaw in Vimeo and shot a film on a handycam and manipulated the date on which it was posted. There are three sides that are attacking us. One is the unwitting Nepali citizenry, second is the social media and the third is the media itself. It was their claim that the short film was privately released, so how could I have seen it before May I had written the script long back and I am not going to stop making short films because of this.”

The 18-minute long short film also stars Neha Sharma and Radhika Apte and tells the story of a mentally ill person played by Manoj Bajpayee.