Director opens up on Brihonnola dispute

Winner of the 2014 National Award for Best Film, Murad Parvez's "Brihonnola" has become subject to controversy yet again. After being awarded at the Jaipur Film Festival last year, accusations came up against the director for plagiarizing Syed Mustafa Siraj's short novel, "Gaachti Bolechilo." 

The writer's son, Amitabh Siraj, claimed in a Times of India article last September that the script for "Brihonnola" was taken from his father's book. However, Murad said, "I like to keep things to myself and work in my own comfort zone, and it makes me uncomfortable to speak on this topic. Despite that, I have to say that stories can have characteristic similarities, but the basic storyline of the script has no similarity whatsoever with that of the book. The philosophy, concept, are all different. My take on this is that a certain group is attempting to tarnish my image and credibility. I don't really have anything more to say.

His first film "Chondrogrohon" was based on a story by Syed Mustafa Siraj and made with his permission. Murad says the accusations are complete lies and he always had a good relationship with Mustafa Siraj. He added that he has all the papers to prove that his is an original story, but prefers to mitigate the situation without further complications.