MID-DAY (July 18, 2016)

Three weeks after it was pulled down by YouTube over a copyright row, Shirish Kunder’s short film, Kriti, is once again available on the video-sharing platform. The psychological- thriller was restored on Saturday as Nepali filmmaker Aneel Neupane, who had accused Kunder of stealing the plot of his film, BOB, couldn’t furnish sufficient evidence within a 15-day timeframe to back his claim.

Makers of Kriti have sought Rs 5 crore from the BOB maker as damages. Advocate Rizwan Siddiquee, who represented Kunder, says, “This case has become a cause for concern for filmmakers all over the world as they need to understand that their work can not only be easily copied by fraudsters, but evidence can also be easily manipulated if not handled properly.”

A vindicated Kunder now plans to make Kriti into a feature film or web series soon. He says, “Since the inception of the idea, we always thought of it as a full- fledged film. Today, after nearly three million people having watched it, the producers and I have decided to showcase more of Kriti to the audience through the format of a web series or a feature film.”