The Supreme Court has resolved a decade-long copyright battle between filmmaker Sujoy Ghosh and his 2016 film Kahaani 2: Durga Rani Singh. On March 20, 2026, a bench comprising Justices P.S. Narasimha and Alok Aradhe quashed the same against the filmmaker, Sujoy Ghosh, including both the 2018 summoning order and the 2025 Jharkhand High Court decision dismissing the case.
The legal battle stemmed from a complaint by Umesh Prasad Mehta, who alleged that Ghosh had copied his script, Sabak, after it was shared with the filmmaker in 2015 for a recommendation letter. However, the Supreme Court found the allegations baseless. Crucially, the bench highlighted that Ghosh had registered the synopsis for the Kahaani sequel in 2012 and the full script in 2013—well before Mehta’s script even existed. The court pointed out a “complete lack of material” identifying any specific similarities between the two works, describing the allegations as “manifestly frivolous and vexatious.”
The Supreme Court also stated that the Screen Writers Association Dispute Settlement Committee findings, which showed no script similarities with the scripts, were hidden from the Magistrate during the first complaint process. The two siblings who had completed their legal studies delivered a court declaration which stated that police should reveal their identity to the victim because he needed protection, and they had given him life protection.
The case timeline demonstrates its extended duration, which began when Ghosh received a CJM summons in 2018 under Section 63 of the Copyright Act, after Kahaani 2 finished its 2016 theatrical run. The Jharkhand High Court in April 2025 refused to quash the proceedings, suggesting that the matter be examined at trial. The Supreme Court’s 2026 ruling brought an end to the legal dispute, which found Ghosh not guilty while establishing proper copyright procedures.
