HC refuses to stay 'Rajneeti' release

The movie, set for a June 4 release, stars Katrina Kaif in a role which resembles the Congress president Sonia Gandhi. The cast also include Ranbir Kapoor, Ajay Devgn and Arjun Rampal.

The resemblance of Katrina's costumes in the film and her overall style with that of Sonia has drawn ire of Congressmen. One of the petitioners, in fact, claimed himself to be a Congressman.

The multi-starrer had earlier run into trouble with the Censor Board taking exception to scenes of violence and abusive language.

The film was given a U/A certificate after the director agreed to cut certain scenes under political pressure.

According to the petitioner, the character played by Kaif in the film is based on Sonia Gandhi, and the film “defames” her.

But Justice Rajesh Ketkar, the vacation judge in the High Court, said “there was no urgency”, and refused to pass any order.

In another petition, Yogendra Konkar, a scriptwriter, has claimed that the film is based on his own script with a similar title. His lawyer claimed that Konkar had met Jha and showed him the script.

However, Jha's lawyer said that the director had never met Konkar.
Jha’s lawyer also pointed out that while Jha's script was registered with Indian Motion Pictures Association in December 2008, Konkar's script was registered in July 2009.