Kunal Kohli speaks out on the plagiarism accusations

13 Nov 2014

Filmmaker Kunal Kohli recently expressed his new found love for acting and the director is all set for his debut film Phir Se . However, even before the release of the teaser of the film, Phir Se has become a victim of the controversy.

Recently, Jyoti Kapoor, co-writer of Daawat-E-Ishq claimed that the story of Phir Se was written by her and accused Kunal Kohli of plagiarism. She further added that she had approached the Film Writers Association (FWA) with the script and also filed a complaint against the filmmaker turned actor. She has stated that she had narrated the story of the film to Kunal, when the two met last year.

The makers of Phir Se are miffed with her and have decided to take action against it. A source close to Kunal says, "While the writer has approached the Film Writers Association claiming that she narrated the script to Kohli over a year ago, truth be told, the writer's claims are false and baseless with no proof to back her malicious statements." Putting all speculation to rest, Kunal Kohli clarified, "The allegations are completely false and are made with vested interests - Whether this is an excuse to extort money or plain fame, the accusations are completely baseless and harassing. Just meeting someone once doesn't mean you copied their script. I was already writing the script with Sukhmani Sadana when I met Jyoti. It's sad and wrong she would use one meeting to accuse me of plagiarism. Fraud cases like this discourage producer- directors from meeting new talent. I'm completely willing to cooperate with the authorities and sort this out as I have nothing to hide".

Kunal Kohli makes his acting debut with Phir Se , after directing films like Hum Tum and Fanaa. Presented by Bombay Film Company Ltd and produced by Shiv Kumar, the film also marks the debut of popular TV actress Jennifer Winget and it will be directed by Kunal Kohli and Ajay Bhuyan. The film is scheduled to release in May 2015.