Pune court adjourns hearing in ‘Khashaba’ copyright dispute; writer cites teaser as evidence

3 min readUpdated: Jul 4, 2026 07:44 PM IST

At Ranjit Jadhav’s home, Olympic Niwas, are preserved the trophies and medals the wrestler won through his career. (Rxpress photo by Arul Horizon)

Written by Piyush M Padwale

Days after the teaser of the upcoming Marathi film Khashaba was released on Thursday, the Pune Civil Court on Saturday adjourned to July 10 the hearing in a copyright dispute over the film. Writer Sanjay Dudhane has alleged that the film is based on his book, Olympicveer Khashaba Jadhav, without his permission.

The dispute stems from a copyright suit filed by Dudhane on October 10, 2024, against director Nagraj Manjule, producer Jyoti Deshpande, Jio Studios and Aatpat Productions. In his suit, Dudhane alleged that the film, based on the life of Khashaba Jadhav—who won India’s first individual Olympic medal with a bronze in freestyle wrestling at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics—uses material from his book without his consent. The plaint also referred to a video from the film’s first day of shooting, released on December 6, 2023. At the first hearing on October 16, 2024, the court declined Dudhane’s plea for ad-interim relief while issuing show-cause notices to the defendants.

The matter came up before a new judge on Saturday. Dudhane said his counsel, Advocate Suvarna Shinde, had earlier moved an application seeking the appointment of a judicial commission to examine the film and compare it with his book before its release after Advocate Ramkrishna Kulkarni, counsel for Nagraj Manjule, informed the court that the film would not be released before July.

Speaking to The Indian Express after the hearing, Dudhane said, “We have given a written affidavit stating that the five scenes match the book completely. We have even specified which page of the book they match.”

Dudhane said he had placed 19 pieces of evidence before the court during the proceedings, including comparisons between scenes from the teaser and passages from his book, references in the respondents’ affidavit filed in the ₹5 crore damages suit, and documents relating to an agreement involving Ranjit Jadhav, son of Khashaba Jadhav.

He further alleged that the affidavit he filed identifies five scenes from the teaser that, according to him, correspond to passages in his book. Dudhane claimed the teaser depicts Khashaba Jadhav’s interactions with the then Chief Minister of Maharashtra, his principal, British officers, Manikrao of Baroda, alleged injustice towards Punjabi wrestlers, as well as wrestling and mallakhamb sequences, among other episodes. These allegations are part of the pending proceedings before the court and are yet to be adjudicated.

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Advocate Kulkarni and representatives of Jio Studios declined to comment after the hearing.

The film is scheduled for a worldwide theatrical release on January 1, 2027.

The writer is an intern with The Indian Express.