A local court here on Wednesday asked the makers of actor Akshay Kumar's Toilet: Ek Prem Katha to file a reply to the charge of violation of the Copyright Act by July 31. A copyright infringement case was brought up by Jaipur-based filmmaker Pratik Sharma against Plan C Studios, an alliance between Reliance Entertainment and Friday Filmworks helmed by Neeraj Pandey and Shital Bhatia, and Viacom18 on July 7 in a Jaipur Metropolitan Court. Sharma alleged that the makers have lifed the punchline and the subject from his film Gutrun Gutar Gun. "Today, Jaipur Metropolitan Court has asked to file a reply or enter into arguments in the case of copyright violation by 11 a.m. July 31," G.D. Bansal, advocate of Sharma, told IANS here. The court had earlier issued a notice returnable on July 22. But as a strike by the clerical staff was going on, the court gave the respondents July 26 as a new date for filing their reply. Earlier in an interview, Sharma said, “Plan C is producing it and Viacom18 is serving as a producer and presenter. There is one line in my movie – ‘aurat shadi karke ghar mai aati hai, usko toilet nahi milta, bawal hota hai, ant mai pati usko toilet bana kar deta hai.’ (a woman gets married and then doesn’t find a toilet at home, creates a scene and ultimately a toilet is constructed). Because of this line the distributors are telling me my film is the same film as Toilet: Ek Prem Katha.” Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, directed by Shree Narayan Singh, deals with the need of sanitisation in India and is based on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Swachh Bharat campaign. It features Bhumi Pednekar with Akshay Kumar.
