Bipasha's 'Jodi Breakers' in a legal soup

Mumbai: Jodi Breakers that is up for release soon seems to be in a legal soup. The latest is that Universal Pictures International France and Ors (a co-producer of Heartbreakers and a part of American entertainment company NBC Universal Inc) has filed a case against the Jodi Breakers producers in the Bombay High Court for infringement of copyright and asked for Rs 50 crore as a compensation.

We told you first that the Bipasha Basu and R Madhavan starrer is allegedly inspired from the French film starring Romain Duris and Venessa Paradis (HitList, January 9).

We also reported that Insia Dariwala, a relatively new writer-filmmaker claimed to be the original owner of the idea behind the film (HitList, January 12). She had even registered a complaint with the Film Writers Association.

Our source reveals, "A lot of A-lister Bollywood producers including Karan Johar were interested to buy the rights of the French film. The negotiations were on. The producers were then aghast to see the promos of Jodi Breakers, the plot of which is strikingly similar to their film. It's a huge loss for them and they decided to take serious action against the Bollywood producers for plagiarism."

The source adds, "The French producers have filed the case against five people the producer, Prasar Visions Pvt Ltd, director Ashwini Chaudhary, the writer, the processing lab and Dariwala who claimed that the producers stole her idea. The first hearing took place on February 10 and today is the second hearing."

The Neolegal Associates (a leading intellectual property firm which handles many such litigation for Hollywood studios) represents the Heartbreaker producer.

Xerxes Ranina, the founding partner says, "The matter is subjudice. I won't be able to comment on the specifics of the case other than the fact that the case has been filed in the Bombay High Court." The director of Jodi Breakers remained unavailable for comment.

Bollywood copies that got caught

Shoebite: The Hollywood studio, Twentieth Century Fox, filed a case against UTV in the Delhi High Court for making a film, Shoebite (earlier titled Johnny Mastana) based on Manoj Night Shyamalan's script, Labour of Love.

Banda Yeh Bindaas Hai: Producer Ravi Chopra's Banda Yeh Bindaas Hai was served with a legal notice in 2009 by Twentieth Century Fox which charged that the movie blatantly plagiarised their comedy My Cousin Vinny.

Knock Out: Twentieth Century Fox had sought a stay on the film's release saying Knock Out was copied from its film Phone Booth. The makers of the film agreed to pay R 1.5 crore in return.
Partner: Partner which is inspired from the Hollywood film Hitch had an out of court settlement with Sony Pictures.

Guzaarish: Scriptwriter Akhil Rajendra Dwivedi sued filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali for R 2 crore alleging that the director used his script without informing him.

Unofficial copies that got away

Murder 2 (copied from Chaser)

Killer (Collateral)

Kaante (Reservoir Dogs)

Satte Pe Satta (Seven Brides for Seven Brothers)

Sarkar part 1 and 2 (The Godfather)

Murder (Unfaithful)

Ghulam (On the Water Front)

Sholay (Once Upon a Time in the West)

Dil Hain Ke Manta Nahin (It Happened One Night)

Hum Tum (When Harry Met Sally)

Posted in: Bollywood