In fresh trouble for filmmaker Prakash Jha, Phantom Films has served a Rs. 1 crore notice to his production house, alleging that the film Jai Gangaajal was made without sequel rights.
Phantom Films, a joint movie production house owned by Vikas Bahl, Anurag Kashyap, Vikramaditya Motwane and Madhu Mantena, claims it has the IPR (intellectual property rights) of 2003 release Gangaajal , directed and produced by Jha, and the rights to make sequel or any adaptation based on the original film.
The notice, issued on August 6, claimed that Jha Production (PJP) had made a sequel of Gangaajal without having 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.
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.
“Not a sequel”
Reacting to the notice issued, Prakash Jha Productions CEO Sunil Agrawal said the entire world associates Jha with 2003 release Gangaajal and that Jai Gangaajal was not a sequel of the first film.
“ 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?” he questioned.
He added that if allegations against PJP were true, the complainant could have gone to court and stalled the release of Jai Gangaajal .
“But they didn’t do so as they had no substance in their allegations. They are only trying to grab advantage of Jha’s status,” he said.
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.
