Raaj Shaandilya, writer-director of the recently released Vicky Vidya Ka Woh Wala Video, and the film’s producers — Super Cassettes Industries Pvt. Ltd., Balaji Motion Pictures and Wakaoo Films — have issued an unconditional apology to Maddock Films for the “unauthorised use of character and a dialogue from Maddock Films’ franchise Stree” in their film. Regretting any harm that may have been caused to Maddock Films and their franchise as a result of this infringement, they have confirmed “taking immediate steps to rectify the issue and are in the process of removing all infringing content from our film wherein we have used character and dialogue from Maddock Films’ Stree at the earliest”. The apology adds, “It will be our endeavour to complete this process by Tuesday, 15th October, 2024, to the full satisfaction of Maddock Films. We also commit to ensuring that no such unauthorised usage will occur in the future.”
Lest the unauthorised usage creates a wrong impression in the minds of people, the writer-director and producers have publicly confirmed that their film, Vicky Vidya Ka Woh Wala Video, “is in no way associated with Maddock Films, their Stree and Stree 2 franchises, or any of the characters therein”. Additionally, they’ve said that they “make no claim to any intellectual property rights in Stree, Stree 2 or any related characters”.
The controversial scene, which is a rip-off of a scene in Stree 2, has been at the receiving end of a lot of backlash on social media since the day of release (October 11) for the unauthorised use of elements from Stree and Stree 2. Maddock Films swung into action soon after the film’s release, resulting in the public apology from the makers of Vicky Vidya Ka Woh Wala Video.