Slated Friday release of 'Nishabd' challenged yet again

New Delhi, Feb 28 (IANS) Bollywood film director Ram Gopal Varma's "Nishabd", featuring legendary actor Amitabh Bachchan, failed to get out of the legal tangle Wednesday, two days before its slated release Friday.

A day after a single bench of a Delhi High Court refused to ban the film, director Jahar Kanungo of Bengali art film of the same name "Nisshabda" moved a division bench of the court, challenging the single bench order.

Accusing Varma of resorting to plagiarism in making "Nishabd", Kanungo sought the court direction to stay the release of the Film.

Kanungo's counsel Kartik Jai Shanker mentioned the matter before a division bench of Chief Justice M.K. Sharma and Justice Sanjiv Khanna, who posted the matter for hearing Thursday.

Justice A.K. Sikri Tuesday had dismissed Kanungo's petition accusing Varma of plagiarising his film of the same name. The judge rejected his petition saying the petitioner approached the court too late to secure the legal reprieve and have the film stopped from being released.

"Injunction of the nature pressed by the plaintiff (Kanungo) cannot be granted at this stage when he approached the court barely 10 days before the proposed release of the film," said justice Sikri Tuesday in his 38-page ruling.

The judge had squarely blamed Kanungo for failing in getting his requisite legal reprieve by approaching the court late.

'Nishabd', directed by Varma, tells the story of a 65-year-old man, infatuated with a girl of his daughter's age. The lead roles in the film have been played by Amitabh Bachchan, Jiah Khan and Rewati.

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