Another trouble for PK: Plea in HC accuses Raju Hirani of plagiarism, seeks Rs 1 crore

New Delhi, Jan 20:Days after the Delhi High Court rejected a petition against Aamir Khan starrer 'PK', a novelist has moved a plea accusing the movie's producers and directors of plagiarising certain portions from his Hindi book 'Farishta' published in 2013.

Kapil Isapuri has moved the court alleging that Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Raj Kumar Hirani, who directed the film, their respective production companies as well as scriptwriter Abhijat Joshi have "stolen the characters, expression of ideas, scenes (sequences) from the novel".

He has sought punitive damages of Rs one crore from the makers along with credit for his work. In his plea filed through advocate Jyotika Kalra, Isapuri has claimed that in his novel he "has criticised blind following of so-called godmen" as well as that "profession of religion is not natural but is man-made and artificial" and "in a group of people nobody can identify their respective religion".

He has also claimed that various other issues raised by the movie have been "copied" from his book.

"That the novel has many more such situations which have been very cleverly copied by the defendants in the film by making minor changes and insignificant variations," the petition has said. "I am sorry that I watched 'PK' pretty late from its release on December 19.

I watched the film on January 1 and was completely taken aback when I saw that many scenes in the film were inspired by my latest novel 'Farishta'," Isapuri told a press conference here.

'PK', starring Aamir Khan, Anushka Sharma, Sanjay Dutt and Sushant Singh Rajput in pivotal roles, is a satire on godmen.

It narrates the story of an alien (Aamir) who comes to Earth on a research mission and befriends a television journalist Jagat (Anushka) and questions religious dogmas and superstitions.

PTI