Gurugram: When Duli Chand, a centenarian, arrived dressed in crisp white dhoti-kurta replete with a bright coloured ‘safa’ (turban) and dark sunglasses, many onlookers wondered why he had landed at the court in Rohtak dressed as a bridegroom.
Chand, after all, had reached the court in a horse drawn buggy along with Naveen Jaihind, a social activist, much to the amusement of the people.
Turns out, the 105-year-old Rohtak resident was there to submit a plea seeking stay on the soon-to-be released Haryanvi movie, ‘Thara Fufa Zinda Hai’, which, according to him, was based on his life. The content, he alleged, was taken without his permission.
The movie’s trailer, meanwhile, has already been released on YouTube.
Taking a note, the court Wednesday issued summons to five parties, including Haryanvi Stage App director and executive director Sanjay Bhasin and Harish Chhabra; Neeraj Chopra, brand ambassador; Vishwas Chauhan alias Comicvishwas, actor; and the Stage-OTT for Bharat (which claims to be world’s first OTT platform in local dialects).
The five respondents have been asked to respond to the plea on Friday. Later, Jaihind said that the counsels for the defendants appeared in the court and sought time to respond to the petition.
In his plea jointly filed with Jaihind, Duli Chand submitted that ‘Thara Fufa Jinda Hai’ (whose rough translation is ‘your uncle [paternal aunt’s husband] is alive’) was a campaign launched by them in August 2022 to tell the authorities that he was alive when his old-age pension was stopped after he was shown dead in official records.
As part of the campaign, Duli Chand attired as a bridegroom sat on a buggy along with Naveen Jaihind while several others danced and carried placards with the message — ‘Thara Fufa Jinda Hai’.
Jaihind explained that the campaign not only helped the resumption of Duli Chand’s old-age pension but they also deployed the same ploy to help nearly 2,000 senior citizens facing similar problems after their pensions were discontinued.
असली फूफा यो रहा
कोर्ट ने दिया नोटिस
एप वाले व डायरेक्टर एक्टर ब्रैंड एंबेसडर समेत पाँच लोग कोर्ट में हाज़िर हो 12 अप्रैल को
माननीय जज आदित्य यादव जी
ज़िला कोर्ट रोहतक🙏
माँग फूफा से माफ़ी माँगे
फूफा मनाया जाए
फ़िल्म से होने वाली कमाई पैसे को वृद्ध आश्रम गोशाला में दे। pic.twitter.com/fYeveONejv
— नवीन जयहिन्द🇮🇳 (@NaveenJaihind) April 10, 2024
Explaining the nuances, former IPS officer-turned-author Rajbir Deswal said that normally ‘Fufa’ is used to placate persons who are unhappy for one reason or the other. “Fufa is a fastidious character in Haryanvi families who often get upset during weddings citing a lack of respect for him,” he added.
Contacted by The Print, Duli Chand said that he was not fighting this legal battle for monetary gains but for self respect. “We will be okay if the defendants agree to give a part of their income to gymnasiums operating in villages or in the cow shelters,” Chand added.
The injunction plea filed by Duli Chand and Naveen Jaihind submitted that in 2021, the Haryana government stopped paying old age pension to Chand and that he came to know he has been shown as ‘expired’ in the government records.
“The petitioner visited many offices but in vain. In August 2022, he met petitioner number 2, social activist Naveen Jaihind, with his problem. In the same month, the two launched a campaign against the government for declaring Duli Chand alive because he was unilaterally declared dead without assigning any reason. On 8 September, 2022, the agitation was given the name, Thara Fufa Jinda Hai, and it immediately clicked as it was covered well by social media, print media and electronic media,” reads the plea.
ThePrint has a copy of the petition.
It further alleged that the respondents have tried to “hijack” the above mentioned agitation without permission and several facts of the agitation were being used in the movie to be released on the Haryana Stage App under the name of ‘Thara Fufa Jinda Hai’.
The petitioners urged the court to put a stay on the release of this regional movie.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
Also Read: BJP & JJP leaders face tough time in Haryana’s Jat heartland. Farmers protest, boo, force them away