Scene stealers

Actor Imran Khan, who stormed onto the scene with Jaane Tu..., had initially wanted to become a script writer after he finished film school in the US. He submitted his scripts to some TV directors but never heard back from them. Later he found out that one of his friends has been cast in a serial – and the story was his!

“I was completely shattered. At that time no one knew that Aamir Khan is my uncle, but this just goes to show what happens to strugglers in our industry,” said Imran to Masala!

True. But now some people in India, and even abroad, are not willing to sit back while their work gets stolen. They are determined to teach the thieves in B’wood a lesson by taking them to court.

Plagiarism? taiwanese fiasco

If one person is notorious for lifting tunes, that’s composer Pritam. There are actually websites that list the original along with his plagiarised version! He’s left no Arabic, South Asian, Chinese, Korean or Taiwanese tune untapped. But Pritam’s always been unperturbed, because, despite everyone knowing about his stealing, his songs have been runaway hits in B’wood!

So in his wildest dreams he would never have imagined a Taiwanese singer would actually take him to court! Singer Lee-Hom Wang and his record label Sony BMG Music Entertainment Ltd have sued Tips Films, the distributors and rights holders of Race, for $320,000 (nearly Dhs1.2 million) in damages, accusing them of plagiarising his song Deep in the Bamboo Grove into Zara Zara Touch Me in the film.

Masala! says

We shudder to think what will happen if the Korean singer Seo Yu Seok, from whose song Pritam made Pehli Nazar, wakes up too. But if Pritam doesn’t lift tunes, he will not have a career at all. Poor guy, what a life!

Copy cat? dhawan’s narrow escape!

Will Smith was about to sue David Dhawan and Sohail Khan for making Partner a scene-by-scene copy of his film Hitch. We do not know why he changed his mind. But the threat has clearly jolted David out of his stupor: he is now seeking permission from the makers of The Wedding Crashers before he makes his next film, an adaptation of that Hollywood comedy.

Masala! says

Looks like David is the fastest learner in T’Town.

Theft? the Amit Khan story

Nobody knew of this man till he came forward and said that the latest box office dhamaka Singh Is Kinng is his story. Amit, who has earlier worked with director Anees Bazmi on the script of the film Karz – The Burden Of Truth, has slapped a case of Rs5 crores (nearly Dhs4.3 million) on Anees, producer Vipul Shah and actor Akshay Kumar.

Amit says that the film is based on his book Boss (published 1996), which he even gifted to Akshay at an informal meeting. Anees Bazmi, furious on hearing the allegations, said, “This is what happens if you give a break to someone. What proof does he have?”

Amit Khan, who has so far written 90 books, might just have all the proof. Let’s see what the court has to say.

Masala! says

If Anees can get hold of all the copies of Boss and hide them, then Amit may just not have any proof!

See you in court! the ram sampath lesson

When composer Ram Sampath sued Rakesh and Rajesh Roshan for Rs2 crores (nearly Dhs1.7 million) for stealing his jingle The Thump, composed for a Sony Ericsson TV commercial endorsed by Hrithik, everyone thought he was doing it for cheap publicity. Sampath, who has worked in Khakee and collaborated with Justin Timberlake, was made to look like an opportunist who was trying to sabotage the release of Krazzy 4.

Thankfully, the court came to his rescue and ordered the Roshans to delete the title track before the film’s release. There was a hasty out-of-court settlement and the song stayed. Sampath later said, “I was not out to prove anything. I was just fighting a personal battle.”

Masala! says

Earlier, people would have been scared to ruffle the feathers of a big production house. Now, beware of the bold and the confident!