HC rules in Ekta's favour

The Mumbai High court on Tuesday ruled in favour of Ekta Kapoor, in her case against Salim Akhtar, who produced Sun Zarra (copy of Tamil hit Tullamta Mannum Tullam, whose copyright was purchased by Balaji Telefilms in 2005 for a Hindi version titled Kya Love Story Hai, to be directed by Satish Kaushik). Balaji had filed a complaint against Akhtar a month back.

Injunction passed


According to Sandeep Singh Sidhu (legal manager, Balaji Telefilms), "The court passed an injunction on Akhtar. The DVD, VCD, cable and satellite rights cannot be released."

Akhtar said, "I am not aware of the judgment. But I don't think I will be affected by it, because I have already sold whatever I have been debarred from."

Counsel Toljapurkar argues that it made no difference whether Akhtar had sold the rights or not.

"He has to indemnify now. Whatever those parties will suffer because of the stoppage of release of goods, the producer in question (Akhtar) will have to bear those expenses. They are not going to take holes in their pockets for no fault of theirs."

Akhtar said Balaji had tried to stall the release of my film, at least twice, but their plea was rejected. "I think we may have to submit the script for comparison, and that's okay with me now."

Argues Sandeep, "I wish he had given the script earlier. The court simply wanted evidence, which we were unable to provide in the early stages, because Akhtar was not willing to show Sun Zarra. We had no choice but to let the film release. So, four writers from Balaji were pressed into service; they saw the film and wrote the script in toto."

Thereafter, the four writers filed an affidavit against Sun Zarra. Sandeep continues, "Once the writers saw Sun Zarra, and compared it to Tullamta Mannum Tullam, they were convinced that Sun Zarra was an identical copy. Based on that, the verdict was given."

Akhtar met Jeetu

Akhtar met Jeetendra in this regard. "I told Jeetuji that if he thinks my film is similar to TMT, he could still change his film, because he hadn't started on it yet. I thought Balaji would let the matter rest there but they took the recourse of law."

Sandeep shot back, "Why should we allow someone else to make the original film and not taken the recourse of law when we have bought the rights lawfully? I remember that when we spoke to this man (Akhtar) first, he was not just reluctant, but in fact closed to recognising the Copyright Act."

Talking to HiTLIST, Ekta said, "Justice has prevailed. Filmmakers will now think twice before infringing on someone else's rights." Ekta also said that Kya Love Story Hai would now have an entirely fresh screenplay.

"We are now changing the main angle of the film as well. Watch out. This one will be a rocking film from Balaji." Kya Love Story Hai stars Tusshar Kapoor and Ayesha Takia.