MUMBAI: Just days before Ra.One's planned Diwali release, Shah Rukh Khan got a breather from the Bombay high court. On Friday, he and his company agreed to deposit Rs 1 crore to ensure the movie's release in theatres.
But in a setback to Khan, a division bench of chief justice Mohit Shah and justice Roshan Dalvi held that prima facie it was convinced that television writer Yash Patnaik had copyright over the concept on which Ra.One seemed to have been modelled on.
The court said it was inclined to grant an interim stay on the release of the movie in theatres, over satellite, video or DVD. At this point, Khan's lawyers agreed to deposit a demand draft of Rs 1 crore in court. The judges said that if the amount was not deposited by Saturday, its stay would come into force. "It is an unfortunate part of the film industry that people use concepts developed by others and then don't want to pay or give them credit," the judges remarked.
TV writer Patnaik had claimed that he had developed the concept of an Indian superhero, where the lead character is called 'One' and had registered it with the Film Writers Association in December 2006. He was in talks with Mushtaq Sheikh to develop the concept. A few months ago he found that Sheikh had been credited for writing the story and screenplay of Ra.One. The court held that it found substance in Patnaik's claim that "prima facie he had copyright in the concept embodied in the concept note, including materials, graphics, illustrations, drawings, monograms, and scenes and pictures of flying robots and gadgets."
Patnaik had said that his suspicions were confirmed when he saw Sheikh's name in the credits for the film and the promos of Ra.One where the lead character of the film "stands on a high-rise overlooking the cityscape with a waterbody in the foreground, which was the same as the end page in his concept note".
"The efforts put in by Patnaik, commencing from 2002, including the concept note, development of the concept and the storyline are sufficient to confer on him the copyright for the concept note, which prima facie appears to have been relied upon by (Khan and his company) for making the film," the judges said.
The court pointed out that Patnaik's allegations were not controverted by Khan, Red Chilli or Sheikh. Last week, a single judge bench of the high court had refused to stay the release of the film. The division bench said the interim stay should not have been declined by the court on the grounds that Patnaik had filed the case after a considerable delay.
Khan's lawyers had opposed the stay saying a considerable amount had been spent to distribute the movie-Eros International said it had bought its worldwide distribution rights for Rs 150 crore. The movie is set to hit the screens in Dubai on October 24, and in India, London and other parts of the world on October 26.
