Bollywood will now think twice before getting ‘inspired’ by Hollywood again.
Bollywood will now think twice before getting ‘inspired’ by Hollywood again. BR Films, which was dragged to court by Twentieth Century Fox (TCF) for alleged plagiarism, on Wednesday agreed to pay a settlement amount of $200,000 (a little less than Rs1 crore) to the American studio.
TCF had dragged BR Films to the Bombay high court alleging infringement of the copyright for its 1992 Oscar-winning film, My Cousin Vinny. The studio had sought damages worth Rs7 crore and a stay on the release of its film’s alleged Hindi remake, Banda Yeh Bindaas Hai, starring Govinda and Lara Dutta. The “amicable” settlement terms, of India’s first formal plagiarism case filed by a Hollywood studio, has paved the way for the film’s release.
This is provided the settlement amount is paid to the Hollywood studio 12 days prior to the release. “We are happy that the matter was settled amicably. The film is complete. We will shortly begin the pre-release publicity,” Ravi Chopra, the film’s director and son of BR Chopra, told DNA.
In the past, Bollywood has received flak for its ‘inspired’ films but a formal suit for plagiarism was never filed by anyone. The settlement in the present case is a vindication of sorts for the American studio and may prompt others to seek legal remedy in the future.
Fox was alerted of the alleged plagiarism after reading media reports in which Banda Yeh Bindas Hai was being “wrongly” passed off as a remake of My Cousin Vinny. It argued that in 2007, BR Films had sought permission to make a film based on the idea of My Cousin Vinny but rights for a re-make or adaptation were never granted. After studying the shooting script of the Hindi film, the studio found that it was a “substantial reproduction” of the script of My Cousin Vinny and that the storyline was identical.
Chopra had denied the allegations stating that he had made an original film with “different characters, different treatment, different
backdrops by Indianising the idea of My Cousin Vinny as permitted (by the studio) and this could never constitute an infringement of the petitioner’s alleged screenplay”. The argument has now been put to rest.
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