Doosra: Delhi High Court’s Big Blow to Sourav Ganguly

Doosra Release Faces Legal Dispute

Abhinay Deo’s Doosra is arriving in theatres this week. The movie landed in some legal issues after Sourav Ganguly and Luv Films LLP filed a lawsuit, claiming that the identity and other things of the well-known cricketer were used without permission.

Apart from the makers, the lawsuit was also against distributor PVR INOX. The legal matter has now witnessed a new update where the Delhi High Court has rejected a stay on the release of the film.

Justice Dinesh Bhatt announced the verdict on the matter, which was listed for an urgent hearing. Dinesh simply stated that he is keeping the matter for tomorrow and there will be no stay on the release. Further updates are expected to be revealed soon. As of now, Sourav Ganguly and others have not yet responded to the court’s verdict.

Sourav’s counsel previously alleged that a portion of the film’s trailer had his footage, adding that it was a violation of personality rights since the cricketer did not allow anyone to use it.

The defense team later clarified that the film is not a biopic and instead focuses on a character who is inspired by Ganguly. Previous claims also mentioned that permission was taken from BCCI and the owners of the footage used in the trailer, and that Sourav had no right over the same.

Sourav had already signed a deal with Luv Films around five years ago, letting the production company create a film based on his life. Luv Films additionally stated that the shooting of the biopic is complete and that they had taken licensing of exploitation rights for the project.

Netizens reacted to the ongoing matter by questioning why Sourav decided to file a lawsuit against the makers. Social media users pointed out that he should be happy and proud of the fact that his footage has been used in a film, where a character gets inspired by him, and in such cases, it should not matter whether the makers took proper permission or not.

On the other hand, a few supported the move, saying that a person’s identity can be misused in any manner and, in that case, it is important to ensure that everything is safe.

The legal matter has clearly brought Doosra into the limelight, and it will be interesting to see whether the headlines will attract audiences to the theatres.