Kerala HC refuses to stay the release of ‘Neru’ starring Mohanlal apropos plea alleging plagiarism

The Kerala High Court has refused to stay the release of ‘Neru’ starring Mohanlal , after a writ petition was filed alleging plagiarism. On Wednesday, December 17, the Single Judge Bench of Justice Devan Ramachandran refused to stay the release of the film, however, issued a notice to the respondents including the Central government, director-scriptwriter Jeethu Joseph and co-writer Adv. Santhi Mayadevi. ‘Neru’ is slated for release tomorrow, December 21.

The petition was filed by Deepu K Unni, who alleged that the script of ‘Neru’ was plagiarized from a screnplay he wrote. The petitioner, in his plea, alleged that he had approached filmmaker Jeethu Joseph and actor-screenwriter Adv. Santhi Msyadevi with the script, and they met on several occasions to discuss the script. According to petitioner, both Jeethu Joseph and the co-writer of ‘Neru’ Adv. Shanti Mayadevi were impressed by the script, and assured to make a film. In the plea, the petitioner also alleged that he was compelled to hand over the copies of his script to Jeethu Joseph and Adv. Santhi Mayadevi, who allegedly conveyed that they wanted to consult with expert lawyers to understand the emotional court drama sequence in his script. As per the petitioner, there was no response following that.

The petitioner also alleged that the sequences used in the trailer were exact replicas of his script, and hence he approached the High Court seeking direction to stay the release.


‘Neru’ helmed by Jeethu Joseph is touted to be a courtroom drama. Mohanlal plays the lead role, while actors Priya Mani, and Anaswara Rajan play crucial roles in the upcoming film.
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