Delhi court orders ‘Chhapaak’ makers to give credit to Laxmi Agarwal’s lawyer

New Delhi: Delhi’s Patiala House Court on Thursday (January 9) directed the makers of Deepika Padukone-starrer Chhapaak to give Aparna Bhat credit in the film. Bhat has been the legal representative of Laxmi Agarwal, the acid attack survivor on whose life the movie is based.

Bhat filed a plea seeking a stay on the film, submitting before the court that she should be given credit for helping in the filmmaking. 

Aparna Bhat, who represented the acid attack survivor in her criminal trial, earlier posted a message on Facebook saying that she was ‘deeply disturbed post watching the film’ as the makers haven’t mentioned her name in the film or given her any credit.

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The petitioner told the court that she also extended help in the preparation of the film script, and for that, she had sought the credit not money. But on January 7, she came to know that she is not getting any credit, therefore, she decided to petition the court to stay on the film's release. 

On Wednesday, the Bombay High Court cleared the decks for the release of Chhapaak, after hearing the plea filed by writer Rakesh Bharti, saying no person can claim copyright on a story inspired by true events.

Bharti's petition claimed that he was the original writer of the story on the life of the acid attack survivor. He sought a stay on the January 10, 2020 release of the film until such time his name was included in the credit as one of the creative writers.

Notably, Chhapaak is based on the life of acid attack survivor Laxmi Agarwal.