Court gives breather for Ra One
Mumbai, Oct 21 (INN): The Bombay High Court on Friday directed Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan to deposit Rs One crore with the court before releasing his Rs 150-crore mega project Ra.On, scheduled for release on October 26.
'The defendants - Shah Rukh, his production house Red Chillies Entertainment and Eros Entertainment - have been directed to deposit a sum of Rs One crore as pay-order to the court and then release the movie," the division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice Roshan Dalvi said.
The court was hearing the petition filed by television producer and writer Yash Patnaik, who contends that he is the original copyright owner of the Ra.One concept. "It is the most unfortunate part of the film industry that people use others' concepts and then don't want to pay or give them credit," the bench remarked.
Yash Patnaik claimed that the idea of an Indian superhero was his own and he had conceived it way back in year 2006. He even claims to have registered the same with Film Writers association, and hence, there should not be any ambiguity about his claims.
Patnaik decided to file the copyright case against Shah Rukh Khan's film when he saw that even the costume of Shah Rukh's superhero avatar was the same as visualized by him. He claims to have told all this to Mushtaq Sheikh, the screenplay writer of 'Ra.One', who had several meetings with him in this regard.
However, Mushtaq would never acknowledge the fact that the screenplay was based on Patnaik's concept and in year 2010 even told him that he had shelved the idea of making the film altogether. But when Patnaik made enquiries through his own sources about 'Ra.One', he was convinced that the film was indeed based on his own concept.
Shah Rukh Khan's 'Ra.One' is a superhero project with a very big budget of around Rs 150 crores. The movie is all set to release on October 26 and any injunction on its release at this juncture by the High Court will prove disastrous for the producers'Shah Rukh Khan and Eros.
News Posted: 21 October, 2011
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