Not only is it the romance of an Indian boy and a Pakistani girl, the characters even have similar sounding names

Almost eight years after Veer-Zaara was released, a new film with a number of similarities with the Yash Chopra-directed film is doing the rounds However, this is not a Bollywood film, but a Punjabi one.

Titled Rahe Chardi Kala Punjab Di (RCKPD), the film, much like Veer Zaara, is a love story between a Pakistani girl and an Indian boy. And while the female lead is a politician's daughter in Veera Zara, in the Punjabi film, it's the male lead that is the son of a politician. Even the names of the protagonists sound similar. RCKPD's leads are called Ranveer and Zeba.

When contacted, Sunil Bohra, the distributor of the film, agreed to the similarities. "I took the distribution rights of the film because I loved the music.

But now I see a lot of similarities to Veer-Zaara. Not only are they both Indo-Pakistani love stories and their characters' names sound similar, there is even a sequence when the protagonists travel atop a bus, just like in Veer-Zaara."

While Bohra claims that the director of the Punjabi film Supinder Saini has vouched for the film's originality, the distributor says he will not distribute the film if Yash Chopra believes that the film is a copy.

"When I asked the director if his film is a copy, he said apart from it being a romance between a Pakistani girl and an Indian boy, everything else in the two films is different."

He added, "I haven't seen the full Punjabi film. If it turns out to be too similar, then I won't distribute it. I've a huge regard for Yashraj (Films)."

Yashraj Films, which was unaware about RCKPD until now, is reportedly looking into the matter. RCKPD is expected to release in March.