Court orders Chhapaak's filmmaker to recognize acid-victim lawyer's name in movie

New Delhi [India], Jan 9 (ANI): A Delhi court on Thursday ordered that the filmmaker of Deepika Padukone-starrer movie ‘Chhapaak’, Meghna Gulzar, to give due credits to the lawyer in the film who claims to have fought the criminal case for the acid survivor on whose life the movie is based.

The court also issued summons to the filmmaker and the producers for the settlement of issues and listed the matter for February 14 for further hearing.

"It is necessary that her contribution be acknowledged by providing on the slide of actual footage and images, the line "Aparna Bhat continues to fight cases of sexual and physical violence against women" during the screening of the film,” the order copy read.

Lawyer Aparna Bhatt moved a petition before Delhi’s Patiala House Court earlier today seeking a stay on the release of the movie, asserting that she was not given due credit in the film.

The court observed that the contribution of the petitioner should be acknowledged as she provided necessary legal documents support in the form of consultation, inputs, and documents.

“Plaintiff is in her legitimate rights to compel the defendant to show her contribution during the screening of the film as such right is embedded in the agreement which is evident from the template acknowledging her contribution and communication effected between the parties,” it stated.

During the course of hearing earlier today, senior advocate Sanjay Parikh, appearing for the petitioner told the court that his client fought Laxmi’s case for years and helped during the script-making of the film but was still not given credit.

"She does not want any money. All she only wants is credit as promised by the film director," Parikh told the court.

He said that Bhatt came to know that her name is not included in the movie on January 7 following which she was promised that the production will take care of her concerns after the movie is released.

She was also told that her contribution has been acknowledged in several interviews, the advocate told the court. 

"The film-maker acknowledged her but I do not understand why they are hesitating in giving my client any credit," he rued. 

The movie, which is slated to be released on January 10, is based on Laxmi’s life. In 2005, at the age of 15, she was allegedly attacked by a spurned lover.

Laxmi had to undergo several surgeries. Later, she took up the job of helping other acid attack survivors and promoted campaigns to stop such gruesome attacks. (ANI)