Jersey: Release of Shahid Kapoor’s film was postponed due to plagiarism case, reveals producer

Shahid Kapoor-starrer upcoming sports drama Jersey was scheduled to release on April 14 but was delayed by a week. Reports claimed that the film was postponed days before release to avoid a clash with KGF Chapter 2. Now, clearing the air, the film’s producer Aman Gill has revealed that the postponement in the release was in fact due to a plagiarism case in the Bombay High Court.
Aman Gill, the producer of the film, talked to Sources and revealed “We were all geared up to release our film Jersey this holiday weekend, however, we didn’t want to go ahead and plan a release until the courts gave us a favourable order, and with hearing scheduled for Wednesday, we had no time to plan for the Thursday release hence we decided to postpone the release by a week to April 22, till we got such an order. Today on Wednesday we got a favourable order, which clears the way for our release next week.”
As per a report by Bar and Bench, the Bombay High Court has refused to stay the release of the film Jersey. “In view of the above finding on delay and laches, ad-interim relief sought for which is for a stay on the launch of the Hindi dubbed Jersey which is to be released on April 22, 2022, in theatres and / or any other platform / electronic media cannot be granted. The ad-interim relief is accordingly, rejected.” the order stated.
According to Live Law, writer Rajneesh Jaiswal had accused the makers of Jersey of ‘colluding with each other by remaking a script obtained from a third party to avoid paying him royalty’. Jaiswal also pleaded that the defendants cease and desist from ‘further propagation of the plagiarised version of the film’ so that a permanent injunction be granted on releasing the film theatrically or otherwise. According to the writer, the script was registered with the Screenwriters Association in 2007 and Jersey has a lot of similarities.
The producers of Jersey defended themselves with the argument that the film was a remake of the 2019 Telugu release also titled Jersey and Jaiswal never objected to that film. Further, according to a report by Bar and Bench, Senior Advocate Dr Birendra Saraf, appearing for producer Allu Aravind, said that Jaiswal’s claim that he was not aware of the Telugu film was inconceivable since it was watched by 10 crore people and is available on OTT platforms.
Gowtam Tinnanuri has directed the Hindi remake of Jersey, who also directed the original. Jersey stars Shahid Kapoor, Mrunal Thakur, and Pankaj Kapur in key roles and the film is now scheduled to release in cinemas on April 22.