Jhund: Telangana High Court slaps Rs 10 lakh cost on filmmaker seeking stay on Amitabh Bachchan

The Telangana High Court on Friday slapped a cost of Rs 10 lakh on Hyderabad-based filmmaker Nandi Chinni Kumar who had filed a petition seeking stay on the release of Amitabh Bachchan-starrer “Jhund”. The court directed Kumar to pay the amount to PM Covid-19 Relief Fund within a month. In the event of the petitioner failing to pay the amount, the district collector would recover the same under Revenue Recovery Act within 30 days and remit it to the PM Fund.

A bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Abhinand Kumar Shavili, which had already declined to stall the release of the movie, asked counsel for the petitioner as to why he suppressed information pertaining to the case he had filed at a lower court on the same subject.

The court was told that a compromise had already arrived between the makers of the movie and Kumar. As part of this, Kumar was paid Rs 5 crore. However, Kumar approached the high court, seeking a stay on the release of “Jhund”, claiming that the settlement was due to wrong inducement.

“Jhund”, a biographical sports film based on the life of Vijay Barse, the founder of NGO ‘Slum Soccer’, was released in theaters on Friday.

Barse is the coach of Akhilesh Paul and Kumar claims that he bought exclusive rights in November 2017 to make a movie titled “Slum Soccer” on the life of Akhilesh Paul.

He said though director Nagraj Manjule and producers bought rights to make a movie on the life of Barse, “Jhund” also showcases Paul’s story in a major role, thus allegedly violating the copyright. Kumar had filed a suit in a city court in 2020, seeking a stay on release of the movie.