Julie 2 In Trouble, Lawsuit For Copyright Infringement!

Producer N R Pachisia has filed a legal suit in the Mumbai  High Court for copyright infringement against Julie 2’s  director Deepak Shivdasani and its presenter-distributor Pahlaj Nihalani.

However  Nihalani laughs away the legal  hurdle as humbug. “This is a  classic example of  nuisance litigation. Where  was this gentleman all this time  while we were completing the film? Why has he come forward when we are just weeks away  from release? These kinds of cases are done only to harass filmmakers and bully them into out of court settlement with attractive compensation money, on the eve of their film’s release.”

Nihalani says  he and director Deeap Shivdasani are not  succumbing toe bullying tactics. “We are  very clear  in our dealings. It is true that Deepak Shivdasani made a film called Julie for producer Pachisia  in 2004. But Deepak retained rights to the title for himself. He did not sell it to Pachisia who therefore has no  right to claim it as his own. We’ve also registered Julie 2 as the title of our film with  IMPAA(Indian Motion Picture Producers Association). As per rule the title is  ours for five years.”
Does Nihalani see Julie 2 not making it  for its 6 October release because of the unexpected legal hassle?

Laughs Nihalani, “We are  coming on  6 October.Such last-minute legal  hurdles are a part and parcel of  the ploy to extract  money from filmmakers who  cough up sizable sums in the fear of losing their release dates. But we are confident that our title is ours. No one can take it away from us.And we aren’t parting with a  single penny.”