NEW DELHI: With ‘Endhiran’ being the latest movie to get a legal notice after almost a month and a half of its release, it’s become apparent that 2010 has been the year of legal notices and controversies for tinsel town. From the first month of the year itself, almost every big movie has been dogged with controversy, legal or public. In fact, of the top 10 highest grossers of 2010 till now, every single movie has courted a controversy, including ‘Dabangg’, ‘Golmaal3’, ‘Raajneeti’, ‘My Name Is Khan’, ‘Housefull’ and ‘Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai’.
It began in the first quarter only, with three January releases – ‘Veer’, ‘Ishqiya’ and ‘Rann’ – seeing legal trouble. Gurgaon-based author Pavan Chaudhary slapped a notice on actor Salman Khan, director Anil Sharma and producer Vijay Galani for allegedly lifting the concept of his book ‘Trilogy of Wisdom’ for their movie. After ‘Ishqiya’s’ release, it was reported that the chartbuster from the movie ‘Ibn Batuta’ had been lifted from a nursery poem by Sarveshwar Dayal Saxena, but lyricist Gulzar later clarified that the two texts were different.
The Amitabh Bachchan starrer ‘Rann’ had courted controversy from its days of shooting only because director Ram Gopal Varma had appropriated the national anthem as ‘Jann Gann Rann’ for a track for his movie. But, this raised a huge storm and RGV approached the Supreme Court with a writ petition, which was declined.
The controversy against the February release ‘My Name Is Khan’ began in January and even a day before the movie’s release, there was a big question on whether theatres would screen it, considering the threat from the MNS. A couple of months later, just as director Sajid Khan was claiming to fill cinema halls with his movie ‘Housefull’, Prakash Mehra productions sent him a legal notice for violating the copyright act. They said that the makers have included a song from ‘Laawaris’ – Apni Toh Jaise Taise – penned by Prakash Mehra without permission. Then came director Prakash Jha’s turn – two separate petitions were filed in the Bombay High Court for seeking a stay on the movie.
In one, a man claiming to be a Congress worker, said that the character played by Katrina Kaif in the film is based on Congress president Sonia Gandhi, and the film defames her. Scriptwriter Yogendra Konkar too had claimed that the film is based on a script he’d written. But this too was dismissed.
Even though ‘I Hate Luv Storys’ released without a glitch, it kicked up a verbal storm in tinsel town when director Punit Malhotra and Sonam got into an online argument with author Shobha De. A fortnight later ‘Tere Bin Laden’ was banned in Pakistan because of the way it spoofed Osama Bin Laden, even though it was proposed that the name would be changed to ‘Tere Bin’.
Close on the heels of this came ‘Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai’, which got producer Ekta Kapoor a legal notice. Sundar Shekhar Mirza, Haji Mastan’s adopted son, sent a legal notice to Balaji Telefilms.
Even though ‘Peepli Live’ released peacefully, in September, Aamir Khan received a legal notice for the use of abusive language in the film. Copying from Hollywood is nothing new, so no one was surprised when 20th Century Fox moved court against the makers of ‘Knockout’ for copying ‘Phone Booth’ frame by frame.
Later, the filmmakers had to pay the studio Rs 1.5 crore as damages. The biggest grosser of the year came in the form of ‘Dabangg’ and it was followed by a bigger controversy and legal case. The track ‘Munni Badnaam Hui’ became a national rage, until an enraged Emami sent a legal notice to the makers.
After peaceful negotiations, the company decided to use the chartbuster for its commercials, Malaika Arora Khan became its brand ambassador. The next big release ‘Golmaal 3’ received a legal notice a week after its release from The Indian Stammering Association which said that Shreyas Talpade’s character mocks people who stammer.
The Abhishek Bachchan starrer ‘Raavan’ was under the lens when Abhishek claimed that he jumped from a very high cliff for a scene when a stuntman produced evidence that proved the opposite.
