O’Romeo row: Makers of earlier films that faced court cases speak up

By Subhash K. Jha -

January 16, 2026 - 4:02 PM IST

When it comes to real-life stories on celluloid, last-minute litigations have become the norm. A legal notice has been sent to the producer Sajid Nadiadwala and director Vishal Bharadwaj for their film O’Romeo by Sanober Shaikh, daughter of Hussain Ustara on whose life the film is allegedly based.

O’Romeo row: Makers of earlier films that faced court cases speak up

In the notice, the litigant has protested against the allegedly unfavourable portrayal of her father in the film, and has sought compensation of Rs. 2 crores.

It is not clear how she came to this conclusion after watching trailer as the makers have not mentioned any real-life names. Nor is it comprehensible how monetary transaction would restore her father’s image, if the film is actually damaging to the litigant’s father.

Sanober Shaikh has further asked that the amount be paid within seven days.

In 2022, the adoptive son of the real Gangubai wanted a stay order against Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s film Gangubai Kathiawadi. The reason being given was, the film shows his adoptive mother as a sex worker.

Fighting off a court case asking for a stay order, Chakra in 2021, the Vishal Krishna Tamil actioner about cyber theft opened to roaring crowds in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

Vishal said, “It was a traumatic time for me and my team. Until a day before release, we didn't know if we would be able to release on Friday. Thankfully, the honourable court ruled in our favour. I think it's time such humbug litigation against the release of films is completely stopped. If anyone has a problem with a film, they must come forward with it earlier, not when the film is on release. Nuisance litigation against films on release whereby an effort is made to block a film’s release just weeks or days before the scheduled Friday must stop. It is nothing but a form of extortion. These last-minute legal recourse is meant to paint film producers into a corner.”

Pay up some lakhs or face crores of losses if the film gets blocked.

Producer Pahlaj Nihalani, who has been at the receiving end of numerous litigations, says the law needs to be amended to protect producers from last-minute harassment. In 2017, Nihalani faced huge financial losses when producer N R Pachisia filed an eleventh-hour case against Nihalani’s Julie 2 for copyright infringement. “What we gave him was even less than the lawyer’s fees. But what Pachisia took away was our faith in people from our own fraternity. Pachisia knows what producers have to go through when their films are stalled legally or otherwise at the last moment. He still went ahead and filed a bogus case against our film claiming our Julie 2 infringed on the copyrights of the film Julie, which Pachisia had produced in 2004. We kept shouting and swearing that our Julie 2 had nothing to do with the film that he had produced. We had to postpone the released thrice.”

Nihalani feels the practice of last-minute litigations against the release of films must stop. “I think it's time such humbug litigation against the release of films is completely stopped. If anyone has a problem with a film, they must come forward with it earlier, not when the film is on release.”

Also Read: Farida Jalal on uttering the cuss word in O’Romeo, “It’s about time I got rid of my goody-goody image”