Madhur Bhandarkar’s movie “Jail”was given the go-ahead by the Bombay High Court in a copyright infringement action instituted by Sushila Sharma, the proprietor of a little known entity called Harsh Raj The Economic Timess. She alleged that the movie infringed the copyright in her film, also titled Jail, which never saw the light of the day.
The Court dismissed the allegations saying this was reflective of the increasing tendency to file suits on the eve of release of films and was nothing short of blackmail. Bhandarkar’s lawyers contended that Sharma’s claims were frivolous since, Rajesh Maria, also the proprietor of Harsh Raj, had signed an agreement purportedly assigning the rights to the movie to Bhandarkar’s company Percept Ltd. It was further pointed out that though the publicity campaign for the film was launched in September, the allegation was made on the eve of release of the film casting serious doubts on the intention of the plaintiff.
On a different note, the movie is not bad and certainly worth a watch.
