Soumya Vajpayee Tiwari (MID-DAY; October 6, 2017)

Dr Palash Sen, who recently turned director with the short film, Jiya Jaye, finds himself in legal trouble. The musician-turned-director has been accused of plagiarism by Mumbai-based producer Bhargav Saikia. According to Saikia, Sen has lifted certain shots from his 2016 production, Kaafiron Ki Namaaz, for his short film.

“Though Dr Sen’s film is set in Kashmir, they shot in Himachal Pradesh. Since they wanted to depict Kashmir, they used few visuals from my film. My lawyer has sent them a legal notice,” he said. The producer also shared a copy of the legal notice with mid- day.

Enraged at the blatant plagiarism, Saikia says independent filmmakers like him are often “taken for granted”. “I recently toured many film festivals with my film, The Black Cat, which stars Tom Alter. So many short filmmakers plagiarise music and visuals. I want such unethical practices to stop.”

When mid-day reached out to Sen, the musician said, “The cinematography and the visuals are all original. I’d want to have a word with him to understand what he’s referring to. If he wants to take the legal route, I have no problem. But I would want to resolve the matter outside court.”