Aditya Dhar sends legal notice over ‘Dhurandhar’ copy claim
Kannada filmmaker Santosh Kumar RS claimed that 'Dhurandhar The Revenge' is copied from his 2023 script
Filmmaker Aditya Dhar is taking the legal route on filmmaker Santosh Kumar RS's claim that Dhurandhar The Revenge is plagiarised.
On March 31, during a press conference, Santosh alleged that the Ranveer Singh-starrer is copied from a script he registered in 2023.
While talking to media, he said, “They have manipulated my project, script and exploited me. I have all the proof from the Screenwriters Association.”
Now, a source told, “Aditya Dhar has already issued a notice to Santosh Kumar through his legal team, refuting the allegations and requesting him to refrain from making false claims. Despite the aforesaid, since Santosh continues to make baseless allegations, Aditya is in the process of initiating appropriate legal proceedings against him.”
On the other hand, the Kannada movie maker said he received only an email from the team: “It is not a notice, it is just a reply on my mail. They were harassing me, that I should not complain and that I am defaming them for my publicity. I told them in going legal, so don't send me messages, come to court.”
Describing the similarities in Dhurandhar The Revenge and his film, titled D-Saheb, Santosh claims, “The fictional main character has been copied. In my story, a young boy’s family gets attacked by criminals and he takes revenge. The son of a former Army officer, he kills 10 people and is arrested. But impressed with his courage, the national security advisor sends him to Pakistan as a RAW agent to finish terrorism. Aditya Dhar is very smart, he has taken only the main lines of my movie and added political propaganda.”
He durther said, “I could not reach director Aditya Dhar. I contacted the production house, Jio Studios. They said we are just producers, you have to discuss this with B62 Studios. I am filing a case against them. The producers are harassing me for making the story public, ‘Why are you going public, saying bogus?’ I told them, ‘Come and legally answer me’.”
While there was no response from the producers, our source tells us, “All the allegations of Santosh, that his script is being stolen by makers of Dhurandhar or it amounts to infringement of his alleged rights, are baseless, false and untenable. The story of Dhurandhar is an original idea, brain child of Aditya who wrote it and registered the story with SWA in September 2023 itself. Meanwhile, Santosh claimed he registered his script with SWA only in November 2023.”
Dhurandhar The Revenge is a sequel to Aditya Dhar's spy thriller Dhurandhar (2025), which was set in the Lyari area of Karachi.