The legal battle between producer Vashu Bhagnani’s Pooja Entertainment and Tips Music has sparked a larger debate over who truly owns the rights to a film’s music: the producer or the music label. Pooja Entertainment recently dragged Tips to court, alleging that the latter recreated the iconic song Chunari Chunari for their film Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai without permission. The track was originally featured in Biwi No.1 (1999), which was produced by them. The court has since granted interim protection to Vashu.
Also read: Court grants Vashu Bhagnani interim relief over ‘unauthorised’ use of Bollywood IP rights, Tips calls claim ‘malicious’
Meanwhile, Tips maintained on Instagram that they remain the “lawful owner” of the music rights, dismissing Pooja Entertainment’s claims as “malicious.”
When we reach out to Vashu pointing out the same, his legal spokesperson tells us, “The entire music rights, songs, and films mentioned in the plaintiff’s suit are covered under the “status quo” order. Therefore, at this stage, the question of whether they are the lawful owners or whether their agreements are valid and subsisting does not arise. Everything is now subject to the status quo as directed by the Hon’ble Court. Certainly, all actors, director David Dhawan, producers, technicians, and every other person involved in the matter will have to appear before the Court and submit their reply; otherwise, they may be liable to face contempt of court proceedings.”
Looking at the interim relief as a big step, the spokesperson further asserts that film producers should unite, “Certainly, this is a victory for all producers, and they must come together to assert and protect their rights. Music companies have been earning enormous revenues from the open market based on investments and rights originally belonging to producers, and therefore producers have every right to raise their claims. This interim relief is only the beginning, and we are hopeful that in the future complete justice will be done, since our rights have clearly been infringed.”
Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai stars Varun Dhawan, Mrunal Thakur and Pooja Hegde in the leading roles.