Netflix‘s new horror show Betaal’s trailer dropped online last week and ever since it has created a lot of buzz. The show is backed by Shah Rukh Khan‘s Red Chillies Entertainment making it even more special for the SRK fans.
However, seems like there could be a little trouble for the streaming platform and the makers of the show in taking it ahead. Marathi screenwriters Sameer Wadekar and Mahesh Gosawi have alleged that the show has lifted the story of their zombie film titled Vetaal.
The writers say they had registered their script with the Screen Writers’ Association (SWA) and have also filed a complaint with them now.
In an interaction with a leading daily, the writers said they had registered the script with the SWA last year and it was right after one year that SRK’s Betaal went on the floors in July 2019. He said they had gone to pitch the idea of their film to other production houses but not to Red Chillies Entertainment. “
We hadn’t pitched it to Red Chillies Entertainment, so the onus isn’t on them, but on the platform that commissioned it. I haven’t been able to figure out how (the idea) reached them,” said Wadekar after their first hearing at the high court.
The writer added that they can make out 10 things from Betaal that are similar to what they wrote in their film Vetaal. Wadekar said, “We have depicted zombies as descendants of the Vetaal army from Shivaji’s era while, in Betaal, they are shown as belonging to the British era. We have written a sequence where the army dances to folk music during a procession. A similar scene is included in their trailer.”
Meanwhile, the court has dismissed their plea of putting a stay on the show but has asserted that they can claim damages after proving that the show is plagiarised.
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