Nagraj Manjule’s Jhund featuring Amitabh Bachchan gets a stay order on its release

Nagraj Manjule’s Sairat was a big success. Now he is to make his Bollywood debut with Jhund  featuring Amitabh Bachchan. But seemingly, cinema enthusiasts might have to wait longer to catch this dream project. Although the shooting of this movie was completed before the lockdown and the movie was to arrive on OTT platform, but the release it due because the movies is surrounded by clouds of controversies.

According to reports, the petition has been filed against Jhund, over the claims of copyright infringement. The petitioner Nandi Chinni Kumar has stated that he has exclusive rights to the story of footballer Akhilesh Paul, on whom the film is said to be based. Nandi has alleged Akhilesh of cheating.

In this response, Telangana High Court has ordered a stay on Jhund’s release in both India and overseas market on OTT platforms. The response from the film’s side is expected to be out soon.

Jhund is about the story of Vijay Barse, coach and founder of the NGO ‘Slum Soccer Foundation’. Vijay encouraged slum children to play soccer or football, so that they could avoid bad habits. He was also the coach of Akhilesh Paul, a gangster turned slum soccer player.

Now the story of Vijay Barse is quite incomplete without that of Akhilesh Paul (the gangster turned Indian captain of slum soccer player). Nandi has claimed that Akhilesh sold him the exclusive copyright of his story, while Akhilesh him the rights only for a documentary and not a feature film. Nandi claims, the makers of Jhund have telephonically informed him that they have bought rights of Akhilesh Paul’s story from the man himself, but are yet to share anything with him in writing.