Filmworld
HC imposes Rs.10 lakh fine on Ram Gopal Verma for remaking 'Sholay'
New Delhi, Aug 31
The Delhi High Court on
Monday imposed a fine of Rs.10 lakh on film maker Ram Gopal Varma and
his production house for making the remake of 1975 blockbuster 'Sholay',
which violated the exclusive copyright vested with its director Ramesh
Sippy.
Justice Manmohan Singh said that Varma and others by
making "Ram Gopal Varma ke Sholay: have "intentionally and deliberately"
brought the movie in violation of plaintiffs' exclusive moral rights of
copyright.
The court's order came on a lawsuit filed by Sascha
Sippy, son and grandson of original Sholay's producers Vijay Sippy and
G.P. Sippy, alleging that remake was violative of exclusive copyright
held by the Sholay Media and Entertainment Pvt Ltd.
The court
slapped a fine of Rs.10 lakh as "punitive damages" on Varma, his
production house M/S RGV Productions Pvt Ltd as well as Varma
Corporation Ltd and Madhu Varma and restrained them from using any
character like "Gabbar or Gabbar Singh" in the original film.
"The
publicity material coupled with the impugned film, gives an overall
impression that it is a remake of the film 'Sholay'," the order said.
"The
use of similar plot and characters in the impugned film coupled with
use of the underlying music, lyrics and background score and even
dialogues from the original film 'Sholay' amounts to infringement of
copyright in the film 'Sholay'."
The 1975 blockbuster featured
Dharmendra, Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjeev Kumar, Hema Malini, Jaya Bachchan
and Amjad Khan among others.