The tussle between the short films – Laddoo and In The Name of God – that begun as a controversy relating to similar storyline remains unabated. Although we thought the makers made the bed with it after Neeraj Pandey and Shital Bhatia’s Friday Filmworks revealed that writer Pankaj Chaturvedi had shared the script with both the directors in 2013. However, in the film In the Name Of God, which resembles with the Sameer Sadhwani and Kishore Sadhwani-directed Laddoo, the writer’s credit in the latter film was unintentionally missed (After Hrs edition dated February 22, 2019) due to the time gap and lack of communication. Ishaan Khatter, Ayushmann Khurrana or Arjun Kapoor - Who Should Star in Abhishek Kapoor's Next on Balakot Air Strikes?

Pankaj, on February 25, sent a legal notice to Ajay Dhama, who reportedly had made In The Name Of God in 2014 and even uploaded clips on his Facebook page. The notice states that although Pankaj had shared the story idea with Ajay in December 2013, the idea of jointly producing it was discarded since there was no development to their discussions.

The notice further stated that Pankaj was surprised to find out that Ajay had made a film and shared clippings online. Pankaj established that he is the sole owner of the script as he assigned the copyright and intellectual property rights to Sameer and Kishore Sadhwani. The notice also stated that Ajay has no rights over the script and should remove all the material shared on social media and other media platforms. Moreover, he should also hand over all the material related to In The Name Of God to him.

Ajay replied to the notice, through his lawyers, questioning why Pankaj waited till February 2019 to register for the copyright of the script. In the notice, Ajay also mentioned that the script of In The Name Of God was conceptualised by Ajay and writer-actor Rakesh Ojha. Rakesh penned the dialogues for the film and the notice also states that Pankaj was an assistant to Rakesh and has misused facts. Sanjay Leela Bhansali Joins Hands with Bhushan Kumar to Produce a Movie on Balakot Air Strikes.

On his part, Pankaj says, “My script was created in December 2013 and subsequently, I got it registered. I had recently applied for copyright just as an additional precautionary measure. All writers abide by getting their scripts registered. The script was shared with Ajay Dhama as he had shown interest in producing it under my direction. We disconnected post that on many things and nothing materialised and noticed recently during the ongoing events and through his claims in media that he has produced the same without my consent. The matter needs to be resolved in the court of law and all the evidence to this will be presented there.”

Both the short films are based on the theme that all religions are one and lead to one supreme God. The story revolves around a young boy who is sent by his mother with a tiffin for the temple pandit on occasion of his grandfather’s death anniversary. However, when he finds the temple gates closed, he ends up at a mosque, where he offers the food to the Maulvi.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 18, 2019 11:09 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).