‘New York’ in a sensational, sloppy plagiarism mess

Spicezee Bureau

Mumbai, July 01: While most of the films run into sleazy controversies prior to their release, ‘New York’ has landed in trouble post its blockbuster run at the Box Office. The film that has been raking in huge moolah and is sending cash registers ringing is now at the centre of a sloppy speculation as a young filmmaker has accused Yash Raj films of stealing her idea and packaging it as their own. Suchitra Bhhatia, a director and writer, is crying foul as she states she had narrated a similar idea to Aditya Chopra three years back. Her idea has now taken a shape of a film ‘New York’, but without her consent. Speaking to a news daily, an agonized Bhhatia said, “I wrote to Aditya Chopra in August 2006 regarding two stories I had. He asked director Arjun Sablok to get in touch with me. He contacted me and we fixed up a meeting at the YRF studio. On September 1, I met Arjun and narrated two story ideas to him. He was extremely happy with the stories. I still remember him exclaiming ‘Wow!’ I kept writing to him, but there was no response and I gave up as I got busy with other work. To my surprise, after three years, I saw ‘New York’ and was disheartened to know what they had done: using my story without even informing me, let alone give me any credit.” What’s more is that Suchitra has enough evidence to prove her claims. As it stands now she had registered her script with the Writer’s Association in 2006. Taking that as evidence she has now filed a complaint with the Association. “I wrote to Adi as well as Arjun about this and have lodged a complaint with the Writer’s Association. There hasn’t been any response from YRF yet”, she added.