Jhund: The Telangana High Court has fined a filmmaker Rs 10 lakh for seeking a halt on the release of Amitabh Bachchan starrer

On Friday, the Telangana High Court fined Hyderabad-based director Nandi Chinni Kumar Rs 10 lakh for filing a plea seeking a halt on the release of Amitabh Bachchan's Jhund (2022). Kumar was given a month to pay the money to the PM Covid-19 Relief Fund by the court. If the petitioner fails to pay the sum, the district collector will reclaim it under the Revenue Recovery Act and send it to the PM Fund within 30 days.

Nandi Kumar filed the suit, claiming that the film was based on the life of Akhilesh Paul, a football player. The director stated that he had purchased the story's rights in order to create the film in 2017-2018. However, he discovered that Jhund, starring Amitabh Bachchan, was also based on the same plot.

The panel of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Abhinand Kumar Shavili, who had previously refused to halt Jhund's release, now asks the petitioner's attorney why he withheld material from a lower court case on the same matter.

The court was told that the movie's producers and Kumar had already reached an agreement. Kumar received Rs 5 crore as part of the deal. Kumar, on the other hand, went to the high court to ask for a hold on the release of Jhund, arguing that the settlement was reached under pressure.

As per reports by Deccan Chronicle, "The court dismissed the petition on the ground that Chinni Kumar had approached the court without clean hands as he suppressed facts in respect of an application which was filed before a trial court. The court pointed out that the petitioner, after entering into a compromise with the producers, received a sum of Rs. 5 crore but was now making an allegation that he was misled by the filmmakers."