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‘OCTOBER IS WAY TOO SIMILAR TO MY FILM’
Aarti… is based on a real incident that happened with my brother, Sunny Pawar, and [his late girlfriend] Aarti Makhwana. October is way too similar to their story and my film. SARIKA MENE FILMMAKER We have received a letter. And we will respond to the letter officially. [After that] we [will] let you know our official statement. SHOOJIT SIRCAR FILMMAKER
Yet another Bollywood film runs into controversy. Filmmaker Sarika Mahesh Mene has alleged that Shoojit Sircar’s October, starring Varun Dhawan and Banita Sandhu, is a copy of her Marathi film, titled Aarti - The Unknown Love Story (2017). According to Sarika, she and her friend, award-winning documentary filmmaker Hemal Trivedi, were working on the Hindi adaptation of Aarti… Sarika has approached the Indian Motion Picture Producers Association (IMPAA) and Screenwriters Association (SWA).
“Aarti… is based on a real incident that happened with my brother, Sunny Pawar, and [his late girlfriend] Aarti Makwana. October is way too similar to their story and my film. Obviously, they’ve added a few cosmetic changes, but how are the events, approach etc so similar? They start off showing a hotel where the characters are interns; my film starts with a newspaper office where Sunny and Aarti are interns. Then Shiuli falls from a terrace asking about Dan; in my film, Aarti, while on a trip with friends, is shown lost in thoughts and her friends point out that she was thinking about Sunny when the accident happened. Much like Shiuli’s mother asks Dan to concentrate on his work, Aarti’s mother says the same to Sunny — here, even the dialogues are similar,” says Sarika. She adds, “I’ve approached SWA, IMPPA, and Marathi Kala Mandal...”
It all started with Hemal’s Facebook post on April 18. She wrote: “...Shoojit Sircar stole Sarika Mene’s acclaimed Marathi film, Aarti – the unknown love story, to make October... Sircar has not just picked up the plot... but has also blatantly copied the look and the moments from the original film. The filmmakers of October never acquired any rights to the Marathi film and they never contacted Sarika (the director)...” The post got mixed reactions.
Urging everyone to watch both films, Sunny adds, “We’ve nothing against anyone and respect Shoojit Sircar’s work; we just want the truth to be out. There are YouTube videos where I’ve spoken about the incident, and [there are] newspaper articles [too].”
SWA tells us that Sarika’s initial complaint was based on the trailer, and she came to SWA on April 11. “Our Legal Officer, Heema Shirvaikar, suggested that she should watch the film, since it was releasing in two days, just to be doubly sure and come back with similarities between the two films, which would fast- Above: One of the pages listing similarities between the two films, as described by Sarika track her case and make it more concrete. Sarika came back after two days and filed a formal complaint... We’re looking into it,” they added.
When we contacted Shoojit Sircar, he messaged us, saying that “we have received a letter” and there would be an official response to it.
We also contacted Rising Sun Films, the producer of October, and a spokesperson said, “We have received a letter and are in the process of responding to it. For now, we would not like to make any further comment.”
There was no response to several calls and messages that we sent to Juhi Chaturvedi, the writer of October.