The upcoming Amazon Prime series, ‘Gram Chikitsalay,’ faces accusations of plagiarism from Bengali filmmaker Anindya Bikas Datta.
Datta recalls sharing the screenplay with actor Vinay Pathak four years ago.
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It was in January 2021 that Datta shared the project deck and the SWA-registered screenplay of “Quack Shankar” with Vinay, hoping for him to play one of the lead roles.
However, Vinay was interested only in the lead role, while Datta considered him for the role of principal antagonist.
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The antagonist’s role was kept open for discussion if Vinay was interested in pursuing the project, but as the negotiations broke down, the project was ultimately scrapped.
Five years later, after viewing the trailer for Gram Chikitsalay on April 30, Datta claims that the main plot of Quack Shankar and the supporting characters have been completely plagiarized in the upcoming Prime Video series.
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Coincidentally, Mr. Pathak can be seen playing his desired role.
To back his claim, he has additionally shared screenshots of their discussions regarding a project called “Quack Shankar” on Facebook and Twitter.
Datta is currently working on the same script, under the production company Kathavachak Films, with a different set of actors and crew.
This TVF-backed drama is set in the fictional village of Bhatkandi.
Assigned to the village’s nearly abandoned Primary Health Centre, this is the tale of Dr. Prabhat (played by Amol Parashar), who is on a mission to rebuild it.
The series is set to release on Prime Video on May 9.
With only a couple of days left for its release, whether this case of IP theft will be taken into consideration and what consequences will entail is yet to be seen.
