Akshay Kumar-starrer 'Gabbar' moves release date even though they had announced it first
Zee Music Company bagging rights to the music of several upcoming big-budget films, has T-Series seeing red. And the folks at the latter company have sounded a war cry to counter the competition.
While T-Series has had a somewhat monopolistic run, Zee's recent entry into the game of acquistions of soundtracks has shaken them up. Zee Music Company, which last released the music of Holiday - A Soldier Is Never Off Duty, Humshakals and Mary Kom, have Akshay Kumar's upcoming films The Shaukeens, Gabbar and Singh Is Bling, Hrithik Roshan's Bang Bang, Sunny Leone's Tina and Lolo, two other undisclosed projects and 25 medium to small projects in the offing.
The latest salvo fired by T-Series is the adamant push for the release of Akshay-starrer Baby, their co-production alongside Gabbar on January 23. Viacom has been at odds with T-Series since the abrupt termination of One By Two, by the latter (see box). And so, Viacom decided to release the music of Gabbar with ZMC. The decision to deliberately release Baby with Gabbar was taken two months after Gabbar producers Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Viacom 18 decided to release the film on January 23. The latest on the front is that Bhansali has now decided to move his release date to April 3 next year. It made sense, there was no point in getting caught up in false ego.
The soundtracks of both Baby and Gabbar are being worked on. Both the music companies will make sure they get the best music. Ajit Andhare the COO of Viacom 18 says, "The widening of the music market with the entry of Zee Music Company, is a welcome sign. Music marketing is integral to the marketing of our cinema, and with a player that brings the power of its broadcast bouquet to Viacom 18, we hope to create more impact and value."
Bhushan Kumar of T-Series refused to comment.
Abhay took the cudgel
Abhay Deol, who made his debut as a producer with One By Two co-produced by Viacom, said that he was not happy with the way T-series was marketing the film. He even spotted a 'black eye' as a symbol of protest during an awards ceremony. Deol explained in a Facebook post that he had sported a black eye because he wanted to send the message across "visually and symbolically" that his upcoming film One By Two's marketing has taken a hit as a producer of the film refused to follow the archaic and unjust conditions laid down by record label T-series. According to Deol, it is a common practice that music labels like T-series expect musicians to sign a contract with a clause that is restrictive for the latter. However, it is the film's producer's responsibility to make the music composers of his film sign the said contract with the label which buys the rights of the music. As a producer, Deol felt that such a contract was illegal and limiting for the musicians and encouraged One By Two's composers to not sign such an agreement. As a result, a miffed T-Series refused to promote and market the film's music.
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