Shahrukh Khan’s Dear Zindagi copied?

Shahrukh Khan`s new film Dear Zindagi is making headlines again some weeks after it released because it has been accused of plagiarism by a Canadian TV show.

Dear Zindagi`s director Gauri Shinde, however, has strongly denied that her film is copied. In a statement, Ms Shinde insists that her script is original and that she hasn`t watched the TV show in question. Dear Zindagi, which released on November 25, starred Shah Rukh Khan, 51, as a psychologist who counsels actress Alia Bhatt`s character through insomnia and romantic distress. The makers of Canadian show Being Erica have reportedly sent Dharma Productions, which made Dear Zindagi, a copyright infringement notice.

In her statement, Gauri Shinde said: "Dear Zindagi is a deeply personal film. There is only one thing it borrows from, that`s my life. There are a million films and serials with therapists like there are with doctors. Just because there is a doctor in a film does not mean it borrows from another film with a doctor." Being Erica first aired on CBC in 2009. It does involve a young woman and a shrink but is that enough to accuse Dharma Productions and Ms Shinde of borrowing without asking?

Ms Shinde said she would never be `dumb` enough to borrow without giving credit.: "Am deeply disturbed by irresponsible comments from people who have no clue what it is that they are referring to. I have not seen this series that they refer to and I cannot comment on what is in it. In today`s world where everybody sees everything, I am not so dumb that I believe I can get away by deliberate plagiarism nor am I so insensitive to borrow without giving credit from anybody who has created anything for such a sensitive and important cause."

Dharma Productions, owned by Karan Johar, has legally remade Hollywood films like Stepmom and Warrior in the past. The accusation of plagiarism is a first for the company and Dharma CEO Apoorva Mehta told DNA that they had not, in fact, received a legal notice. "It`s not true. We haven`t received anything at all," he told DNA.

Dear Zindagi, which also co-starred Kunal Kapoor, Ira Dubey, Angad Bedi and Ali Zafar, was well-received by critics.

Source: NDTV