'Krrish 3' to release on Friday as HC junks copyright

The decks are finally cleared for the release of Bollywood sci-fi film 'Krrish-3' starring Hrithik Roshan on November 1.
Bollywood actor Hrithik Roshan - AP/PTI Photo.
Bollywood actor Hrithik Roshan - AP/PTI Photo.

The decks are finally cleared for the release of Bollywood sci-fi film 'Krrish-3' starring Hrithik Roshan on November 1, with the Bombay High Court today refusing to grant relief to a writer who alleged copyright violation of the film's script.

In his petition, plaintiff Uday Singh Rajput claimed he was the original author of the film's story and demanded compensation of Rs 2 crore from producer Rakesh Roshan.

However, Justice S J Kathalwala refused to grant relief saying, "this is an incorrect and dishonest plaint.He is not entitled to stop the release of the film as he is dishonest to the court".

In the suit, the verification clause was left blank which the Judge said was not right and raised doubts whether the contents were read out and explained to the petitioner.

Interestingly, the facts mentioned in the suit were denied by the plaintiff orally in the court today.

Rajput, a resident of Sagar district in Madhya Pradesh, claimed in his suit that he had met Roshan in 2008 with the script and was promised Rs two crore payment if his story was to be used in making Krrish-3.

The Judge asked Rajput to step into witness box and questioned him when he had met Roshan. To this, Rajput replied that he had never met Roshan but had met his colleague in 2008, much to the surprise of the court.

Rajput further said he had showed the script to Roshan's colleague who suggested some changes and asked him to register the script with the film writer's association and then mail it to him. Accordingly, the script was mailed to Roshan's office, Rajput told the court.

When Justice Kathawala asked Rajput if he was in a position to produce the original receipt of the post office showing that the script was mailed to Roshan, he replied that he had lost it.

Counsel for Roshan, Ravi Kadam, argued that his client was not in India during the period when the plaintiff claimed he met the producer with his script.

Roshan had also filed a caveat in the court urging that relief should not be granted to Rajput unless he (Roshan) was heard in the matter. The caveat, along with Rajput's suit, would be heard by the court in due course. Today, the notice of motion, seeking a stay on film's release, was rejected.

Rajput claimed in the suit that he had registered his script titled 'Krrish-2' with the Film Writers Association on July 23, 2008. Thereafter, he met Roshan and gave him the script. Roshan promised to pay him if the script was used.

However, instead of paying him, Roshan used the same script to make a sequel to film 'Krrish' and gave the title as 'Krrish-3' instead of 'Krrish-2', Rajput alleged.

The plaintiff further alleged Roshan had advertised in electronic media that he himself was the story writer of 'Krrish-3', although before the court in his application Roshan had stated that the story was written by Rubin Bhatt and the script was registered on March 3, 2011.

Rajput claimed his script had been used by Roshan to make 'Krrish-3', slated for November 1 release, and sought a stay on its release until the matter was decided and a compensation of Rs two crore paid to him.

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