Ghajini's release stopped

knoughtyd

If you've already booked your tickets for Aamir Khan's much awaited film Ghajini, which was to release this Christmas, you might just be disappointed. The all-India release of the film has been stayed by the Madras High Court.

The Madras High Court on Tuesday stalled the much-anticipated release of Aamir Khan's Ghajini', passing an order restraining the producer of the Hindi film from allowing it to hit the screens on Christmas day.

Passing orders on an application by A Chandrasekharan, producer of the Tamil original of which the Hindi film is a remake, Justice P R Shivakumar granted the interim injunction restraining Geetha Arts Division of Allu Entertainment Pvt Ltd and director A R Murugadoss from releasing the movie.

"The order restrains the producers from releasing the movie in any other language, including Hindi,'' said advocate G Ananthrangam, counsel for the Tamil producer. The application names Geetha Arts of Allu Arvind, producers of the Hindi version as one of the parties.Justice P R Shivakumar granted the stay after A Chandrasekaran, the producer of the original Tamil film of the same name, filed a suit claiming that the producers of the Hindi remake had "fabricated documents to claim ownership over the remake rights".

Appearing for the respondents Geetha Arts and Ghajini director A R Murugadoss, advocates Shivaraman and Anbumani told the court that it would be impossible to convey the court ruling the world over where the prints have been delivered.

On this, Justice P R Shivakumar observed: "We will record this plea. However, we are staying the release of the film worldwide."

"To whomsoever the first respondent (Geetha Arts) has delivered the prints, it is for the first respondent to communicate by the fastest media that the film should not be released and comply with the (court's) order."

Sources said the producers might find it difficult to stop the release of the movie. "Overseas prints of the movie were despatched on Monday and even the domestic prints have reached the exhibitors. It will be difficult for the producers to stop the screening of the film in keeping with the orders,'' said a source.

Arvind confirmed with TOI that there was a stay on the release of the film. "We are exploring all legal options against the order to facilitate the release of the film on time,'' said Arvind, adding that an appeal had already been filed challenging the Madras HC order.

Arvind said the appeal was scheduled to be heard by a vacation bench of the high court on Wednesday.

The interim order has been passed pending disposal of suit filed by Chandrasekharan for a declaration that he was the copyright holder for remaking and dubbing of the film in all Indian languages except in Telugu. His main contention is that he had sold to Geetha Arts only the Chennai city rights, Telugu remake and dubbing rights and satellite rights, but had retained all other rights with himself.

He contended that he was shocked to hear that Geetha Arts (which belongs to Allu Aravind Babu, a relative of Telugu superstar and emerging politician Chiranjeevi) was producing the Hindi version of the movie. They claimed that they had been given the rights for remaking the film in all other Indian languages. He lodged a complaint with the Tamil film producers' council, but the director and producer did not cooperate with the bid to resolve it after responding to the council's calls on a couple of occasions.

Chandrasekharan said he had lodged a police complaint against Geetha Arts, Murugadoss and another person for allegedly cheating and threatening him. The director had approached the High Court seeking the quashing of the criminal case. The court has stayed the criminal proceedings. He also disclosed that he is the defendant in a suit filed by Geetha Arts seeking a declaration that it held the copyright for remaking and dubbing Ghajini in all Indian languages as well as holder of rights in all other media for that film, as well as February 14', another film made by Chandrasekharan.

The spat between director Murugadoss and producer Chandrasekharan has been in the air for a while. Chandrasekharan accused the director of cost overruns before the release of Ghajini' in Tamil in 2005. On February 29 this year, when Murugadoss came to Chennai to attend a funeral, he was allegedly hustled into a car and taken to K K Nagar Police Station. He was charged with infringing copyright but released after he furnished a personal bond. It was expected that the two would arrive at an amicable solution, but their dispute remains. However, industry sources said the time for a settlement had arrived.

While the appeal was scheduled to be heard on Wednesday, the makers of the Hindi version would also have to wage a legal battle in the Bombay high court.After Ghajini had run into trouble sometime ago when,KBC Pictures had recently filed a suit in the High Court against the makers of the film, saying that KBC Pictures have got the rights for the remake from the original producer.

The producers of Aamir Khan starrer Ghajini, who woke up to the court summons Monday, have been accused of infringement of KBC Pictures' copyright. KBC Pictures is producing a film titled Kahani Ghajini Ki, which has an Amitabh Bachchan lookalike in the lead.

Film industry circles say an amount of at least Rs.1.2 billion was riding on the Aamir Khan film & reports said earlier that Rs140 million had been spent on the Hindi version's publicity alone.