Jugg Jugg Jeeyo: Writer alleges Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions plagiarised his story idea

After a lot of wait, Dharma Productions unveiled the official trailer for its upcoming comedy Jugg Jugg Jeeyo, which stars Varun Dhawan, Kiara Advani, Neetu Kapoor and Anil Kapoor in major roles. However, soon after a writer named Vishal Singh took to Twitter to allege that the story of the romantic comedy has been directly taken from a script he had written. 

Vishal, who goes by the username @Vishal_FilmBuff said that he had registered the title Bunny Rani with the Screenwriters Association of India (SWA) in January 2020 and soon after had shared the script with Dharma Productions so they could co-produce the movie with him. He also shared a screenshot of an email carrying the synopsis of the story that he had shared with Dharma’s Head of Creative Development Somen Mishra and urged users to watch the movie’s trailer to draw parallels with his original idea. 

Vishal further wrote that his intention to go public with his allegation had nothing to do with “publicity” and he would have “would have given statements to all publications that contacted me.” 

He also retweeted a tweet by Pakistani singer-songwriter Abrar-ul-Haq who also accused the production house of using his song ‘Naach Punjaban’ without permission. A version of the song featured in the Jugg Jugg Jeeyo trailer. 

Vishal said that if a production house likes a story then they should work in tandem with the original writer to make the movie and not resort to “chori-chakaari” (stealing). He added that if this incident could happen to him, it can happen to anyone in the Hindi entertainment industry. 

The writer said that will file a complaint against the production house with SWA. 

Vishal also shared a screenshot of Somen responding to a news article which reported on this issue of plagiarism where the latter stated that Dharma’s legal team is yet to receive a notice on this matter. 

Jugg Jugg Jeeyo, set in Patiala, follows the relationships of two couples takes a comedic turn. The movie marks Neetu’s return to the big screen after almost a decade. She began filming for this project within months of her husband Rishi Kapoor succumbing to cancer. 

Raj Mehta, who previously helmed the comedy of errors Good Newwz, has directed this upcoming movie. Sumit Bhateja, Rishabh Sharrma, and Anurag Singh are the writers. Maniesh Paul and Prajakta Kohli also star. 

Jugg Jugg Jeeyo is set to release in cinemas on June 24 this year.