HC closes Dhurandhar director Aditya Dhar's defamation suit as filmmaker Santosh Kumar apologises for calling him thief

EVen as Aditya Dhar's Dhurandhar emerged as a monumental box-office success upon relinquish, the filmmaker has been entangled in a caseful o'er alleged script theft. In March, director Santosh Kumar had alleged that Aditya Dhar's Dhurandhar is a copy of his 2023 script D-Saheb. Aditya then moved the Bombay High Court, claiming that Santosh Kumar's repeated media allegations are defamatory and damage his reputation.On Tuesday, Live Law reported that the Bombay High Court disposed of a defamation suit filed by Aditya against Santosh after the latter tendered an apology for his statements.What did the court say?A single-judge bench of Justice Arif Doctor recorded in the order, "Mr Bhura, the counsel appearing on behalf of Santosh Kumar (who is present in Court) has tendered an apology for the statements made in the press meeting held on March 30, 2026. Dr Saraf, the Senior Counsel appearing on behalf of Aditya Dhar submits that, in light of the apology tendered, his client does not wish to precipitate the Suit for damages. He accepts the said apology and submits that the Suit can now be accordingly disposed of. In light of this, nothing further survives in the suit and the same is accordingly disposed of."However, the judge has granted Santosh Kumar the liberty to initiate appropriate proceedings with regard to his claim over the film's script. The order reads, "It is made clear that if Kumar has any claim to make against the Plaintiff with regard to the script of the film 'Dhurandhar: The Revenge (2026),' he shall be at liberty to do so and that this order shall not, in any manner come in the way of such claim."About DhurandharDhurandhar was released in theatres on December 5 last year and went on to cross the ₹1000 mark in gross total in India, and ₹1300 crore mark worldwide. It tells the story of an Indian spy (played by Ranveer) sent to Pakistan’s Lyari to infiltrate a Baloch gang. Ranveer Singh plays the spy, Hamza Ali Mazari, alias Jaskirat Singh Rangi, in the film, while Akshaye Khanna plays Rehman Dakait, leader of the gang. The sequel, Dhurandhar: The Revenge, was released in theatres on March 19. It has collected ₹1788 crore worldwide so far.After the release of Dhurandhar 2, Santosh Kumar made the allegations saying that the plot of the sequel was copied from his registered script titled D Saheb. The filmmaker added that his script was registered with the Screenwriters Association of India (SWA) and that he would take legal action against Dhar.