Mr India 2: Shekhar Kapur plans court battle

Mr India 2: Shekhar Kapur plans court battle

Shekhar Kapur is taking the Zee Network to court.

Zee's decision to take his directorial blockbuster Mr India forward has incurred Shekhar's ire.

On a flash visit to India, Shekhar tells Subhash K Jha from the airport just before flying out, "I was here to consult lawyers. I am taking the legal route with them across the world. I am meeting lawyers trying to understand how best to take this. You see, copyright laws have always been nebulous in our country. It's time to change that."

Javed (Akhtar) fought a long and hard battle to win the copyright ownership on behalf of writers," he adds. "It is time for me to do the same for directors. My legal battle is no longer about Mr India. It is about directors's rights over their films."

Speaking on the ambivalence of copyright, Shekhar says, "We have never been clear on this issue, except A R Rahman who owns the copyrights of his songs. The rest of the entertainment industry has never cared about copyright ownership. It's time to change that."

"Who owns the right of a film? How far does the director's influence and rights extend over a film? We will let the courts decide that," he warns.

Has Mr India Producer Boney Kapoor given away the rights of Mr India to the Zee group?

"It is not his to give away. Boney has the rights of Mr India, not its sequel or any other spin-offs," says Shekhar.

As the director gets ready for a long court battle, he says, "I am aware it is going to be tough. But I am going to see this to its closure."

https://www.rediff.com/movies/report/mr-india-2-shekhar-kapur-plans-court-battle/20200303.htm

👏

🥳

Good for him! It IS about the artist's right to his or her own work

tbh ali should just shelve the film, he hasn't even written the script so he won't lose anything by shelving it, coz it looks like this is gonna turn into some nasty court case and it will create friction in the kapoor family

and if shekar wanted rights then he should have legally bought the rights for Mr India from Boney or him and boney could have agreed to produce the movie together, then shekar wud have legal rights. But by law shekar doesn't own the rights and so he doesn't have the power to decide whether there can be a sequal/reboot or not, by law thats just how it is

Originally posted by: zara321

tbh ali should just shelve the film, he hasn't even written the script so he won't lose anything by shelving it, coz it looks like this is gonna turn into some nasty court case and it will create friction in the kapoor family

and if shekar wanted rights then he should have legally bought the rights for Mr India from Boney or him and boney could have agreed to produce the movie together, then shekar wud have legal rights. But by law shekar doesn't own the rights and so he doesn't have the power to decide whether there can be a sequal/reboot or not, by law thats just how it is

he just wants some fame from this... he was long lost as a director coz of his attitude...

good luck to him for the fight in court...

SKJ ka article hai, reliable hai bhi ki nahi.

So when producers are spending cash to make the film it’s ok But the rights issue is too tense ??!

Shekhar Kapoor needs to make a time machine to go back and finance mr India himself 😂

He’s gonna get thrown out of court

He is saying Boney does not have the rights to the sequels? I don't know much about copyrights, but that doesn't sound right.😒

Unless it is mentioned explicitly that he 'cannot make remakes', he can make them I guess. Since he has the rights of Mr India, he can do whatever he wants with it. Whether it is making a sequel, prequel or getting it dubbed in another language.

I wonder if now Sonam-Anil too will jump in and say even actors have rights over the films they do.

Off topic: Hasn't Suchitra filed a case against him over some property?

Huh? Producers have the right to do whatever the fck it is with their products. He himself employs the director to direct. Unless it was his idea in the first place,he can't have any say when it comes to reboots,remakes and the likes ke rights which are strictly the producers.

He's wrong when he says no other artist other than Rahman about copyright...ARR could only do this because of the level of fame he achieved which others (being supremely talented) couldn't reach. Only because he is an international name. Music companies have done enough bs since the last 50 or so years...no wonder they are able to produce movies...they have taken royalty shares of music composers and lyricists along with their own.

Its not just Javed Akhtar who fought. There were many others from ISRA, MCAI and SWA. Javed Akhtar was the face and MP.

Tbh Rahman cannot OWN the copyright...he can be only owning his share of rights...

its either the writers or the producers whos going to win this battle certainly not the directors eventhough a cinema is a directors medium. the character is created by writer and with producers money..