Shirish Kunder's much talked about debut short film, the 18-minute Kriti, coming after a seven-year self-imposed sabbatical which followed Joker, was met with generally positive reviews from viewers and the film fraternity upon its release online on Wednesday. Until word got out that the writer-director had allegedly lifted the plot, almost scene by scene, from Nepali director-photographer Aneel Neupane's short Bob, which went online last year.

Kriti, a psychological thriller which features Manoj Bajpayee (also the producer) as a writer, Radhika Apte as his friend/therapist and Neha Sharma as his agoraphobic girlfriend, opens with a shot of the therapist Kalpana's framed degrees, much like Neupane's Bob. It is alleged that some of the dialogues, like the one referring to Twitter and Facebook, were also lifted. Some shots like the confrontation scene between the writer and the therapist over his girlfriend are also startlingly similar, as well as a shot of the protogonist's face with blood splattered on it at a crucial plot point.

While the social media is buzzing over the 'rip-off' Mirror presents both sides of the story:

'It is impossible that I copied this film'

Shirish Kunder reacts to allegations that Kriti is a rip-off.

I'm aware that posts online are claiming that my short film Kriti has some resemblances with a Nepali film by a completely unknown maker. But the fact is this film was uploaded on YouTube on May 12, while my film was shot and ready in February. The story was locked last year itself so unless I am a time traveller, it is impossible that I copied this film.

Kriti had a lot of professional postproduction which is why it took time to release. Now, those makers are claiming that they had shared a private link of their movie amongst friends in October 2015. I am not a friend and not even aware of who they are, so how could I have access to the link? I do not want to give dignity to such illogical claims by speaking about them. All I am doing is presenting the dates as proof.

I don't want to blame anyone but there were several people who had access to our script months before our shoot and it's possible that one of them leaked our plot. Kriti is a professionally made film and not an amateur video that can be shot and uploaded in a hurry. It could be a coincidence that some aspects of the stories are similar, people can think alike. —As told to Natasha Coutinho

'Shocked to find so many similarities'

My team and I had a hard time finding funding for our film BOB, so we pleaded with Tejaswee Rajthala (Jazz Productions, Australia) to invest and he did. We were constrained by the budget limit of NRS. 50,000 (Rs 32,000) but I'm grateful to the cast and crew for believing in the story, volunteering and making it possible.

The film was ready in October, 2015. I uploaded it on Vimeo as a private video to share with close friends. We released it on YouTube on May 12, 2016. Though 3033 views are not a lot, I've been getting amazing feedback!

On June 23, 2016, I saw Kriti. Initially, I thought the first few frames, setting and characters resembled BOB. But as the film progressed, I was shocked to find so many similarities. I'm angry not because Shirish Kunder practically stole the plot and made it into his film but because we didn't even have lunch money while shooting. We didn't work our ass*s off so some rich dude from India could turn it into this and get away with it. That's not fair!

I'm clueless as to what I have to do next. If I take the fight to them, I don't think I'm equipped financially. They'll get away just like all those other films that Bollywood has been ripping from all over the world!

Watch BOB here.

Watch Kriti here.