In a shocking turn of events, one of the best films of 2016, ‘Udta Punjab‘ has landed itself in a plagiarism controversy. According to reports, there have been allegations on Anurag Kashyap’s film based on widespread drug abuse in Punjab to be inspired from a 2002 novel titled ‘High Society’ authored by Ben Elton.

Talking about the same, one of the producers, Kashyap said to a leading daily, “I don’t have anything to say. I am completely shocked by the same, haven’t read the book.”

[Advertisement]

Reportedly there are similarities between the characters, situations, plots and devices in the novel and the film, although the setting is different.

On the other hand, the writer of the film Sudip Sharma admitted to have read the book. He however maintained that he couldn’t remember much of it. He further mentioned that Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic and an article in Tehelka were his inspirations behind writing the story of ‘Udta Punjab’.

Also read: Meet Shahid Kapoor’s hottie cousin Jassi from ‘Udta Punjab’