Filmmaker Prakash Jha will soon face legal action for alleged copyright violation. Jha has been served with a Rs 1 Crore notice by Phantom Films, which holds the Intellectual Property Rights of Gangaajal, for making the sequel Jai Gangaajal without the rights. “As the film is made already and intellectual property rights are violated, Jha should provide Rs. 1 crore to Phantom film as compensation,” the notice stated. It added that if Jha fails to pay the compensation within 7 days, than Phantom will go to court against the director and PJP over the issue.
Phantom film in its notice also stated that Jha had already taken money for the rights of the film Gangaajal and Jai Gangaajal (from Phantom), and thus, does not hold the authority to make a sequel.
Phantom Films is a movie production house owned jointly by Vikas Bahl, Anurag Kashyap, Vikramaditya Motwane and Madhu Mantena.
The notice was issued after Play Entertainment (co-producer of Jai Gangaajal) had recently given an advertisement in a trade magazine, regarding the rights of Gangaajal. The advertisement said that if nobody turned up to claim the rights of the film (Jai Gangaajal), then it will be assumed that the rights will be protected by Play Entertainment.
Recently, Play Entertainment, co-producer of Priyanka Chopra-starrer Jai Gangaajal had filed a police complaint against its director Prakash Jha’s production company, alleging fraud and cheating.
Reacting to the allegations, Sunil Agrawal, CEO, Prakash Jha Productions said, “Gangaajal was a creation of Prakash Jha. And besides, this (Jai Gangaajal) movie is not a sequel of the earlier movie. It is independent by itself. There is no similarity between both movies so where is the question of violating IPR?”
Agrawal also dismissed their claims and alleged that Phantom Films were ‘trying to take advantage of his status’. “If their allegations were indeed true, they would have gone to the court and stalled the release of the movie,” he added.
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Meanwhile, an official from Amboli police station said that a letter of inquiry has been issued to Jha, asking him to appear before them on Wednesday. “We have issued a letter of inquiry to Prakash Jha. We have requested him to answer a few queries that we have,” he said.
Gangaajal is a 2003 Hindi action drama film, starring Ajay Devgan, Gracy Singh and Mukesh Tiwari. The movie was successful at the box office. Jai Gangaajal starring Priyanka Chopra released earlier this year.