Doosra, the Abhinay Deo sports drama already playing in theatres, has moved from the box office to a legal test. The Delhi High Court on Thursday (October 29, 2026) asked former India captain Sourav Ganguly to stop speaking in broad terms and point to exactly which scenes and dialogues in the film he says misuse his life and image.
Justice Tejas Karia made it clear that a general claim is not enough for a personality-rights case to move forward. ‘Prepare a table with a timestamp of the objectionable scene and narration of the objections… We will see it over the weekend and we will hear you,’ he said. The matter is listed for November 2.
What each side has to produce
The court wants the dispute to become specific and verifiable before the next hearing. Three documents are now on the table.
- Ganguly’s side: a timestamped table of every scene or dialogue it objects to, with a note of what the objection is.
- The Doosra makers: a pen drive with the film so the court can watch the contested portions.
- Luv Films LLP: the manuscript of its upcoming biopic Dada, in a sealed envelope, plus an explanation of how Doosra allegedly violates its contractual rights.
Luv Films LLP, which is producing a biopic on Ganguly, has joined the suit as a party. Its argument is that Doosra is not just a personality-rights question; it also cuts into the exclusive story rights the production house holds.
The courtroom arguments
Ganguly’s counsel argued that Doosra hit theatres last week and is still awaiting an OTT premiere, so the commercial window remains open. He told the court the film is, in effect, the cricketer’s story. ‘It is all about Sourav Ganguly’s life. His image has been badly exploited without consent… After intermission, it is all about the (2002) NatWest match,’ the counsel submitted.
The makers of Doosra pushed back on two fronts. They said permissions for sporting-event footage had been secured from the authorities that hold those copyrights. On the personality-rights claim, they argued that Ganguly was only a source of inspiration for a fictional story about a middle-class girl from Rajasthan.
Why this matters for Hindi cinema
The case is a reminder of how thin the line can be between a biopic and a film merely ‘inspired by’ a famous person. For producers, the practical lesson is clear: inspiration is a creative defence, not automatically a legal one. Securing life rights, keeping records for sports footage and archival material, and defining how a fictional character differs from the real person can protect a release from exactly this kind of late-stage challenge.
Doosra: India’s Other Freedom Struggle is directed by Abhinay Deo and features Plabita Borthakur, Ankur Vikal and Samidha Guru. The court had declined to restrain its theatrical release on October 22, and on October 23 it sought the makers’ response and a screening. The film remains in cinemas while the legal process continues.
Source: The Hindu