Court rules in favour of producer Rajiv Rai who owns copyright to 1975 Deewar song Keh Doon Tumhe, makers of Baadshaho ordered to drop remix from movie
Esha Gupta and Emraan Hashmi in the remixed version of Keh Doon Tumhe
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Recreating old popular ditties may be a quick success formula for many music composers, but the team of Baadshaho has landed in trouble over the remixed version of Keh Doon Tumhe — titled Socha Hai, featuring Emraan Hashmi and Esha Gupta. In a judgment passed by the division bench of the Mumbai High Court yesterday, Rajiv Rai won the case against Bhushan Kumar's music company Super Cassettes Industries. The verdict stated that the makers of Baadshaho cannot use the song, which was originally a part of Deewar (1975), in their film.
Shashi Kapoor and Neetu Singh in original song
Rai's Trimurti Films owns the copyright to the lyrics and music of Keh Doon Tumhe since 1974, when it entered into contract with lyricist Sudhir Ludhianvi and composer RD Burman. On January 2, 1974, the company entered into an agreement with Polydor (now Universal Music India), granting the latter the right to make and sell gramophone records of songs from Deewar, and the mechanical reproduction rights for this limited purpose.
Speaking from London to mid-day, Rai says, "When you make a song, you sometimes give the remix rights to the music company. But, in this case, we had not given the rights to Polydor. So when T-Series took the remix rights from Universal, the company told them categorically that if Trimurti Films sues them, they will have to fight it out. It's not just a fight for me, but for all producers in Bollywood."
Rai is appalled at the frequency with which songs are being remixed, without the necessary procedures completed. "Not many producers bother confronting a music company. Earlier, many of my songs like Oye Oye [Tridev, 1989] and Tu Cheez Badi Hai Mast Mast [Mohra, 1994] were recreated. The concerned people said that I have given them permission. But, truth is, nobody ever sought my permission, nor did I ever make a penny out of it."
Bhushan Kumar (MD and chairman, T-Series) says, "We've always bought recreation rights from the respective music companies. This is the first time that the rights were fractured. We have dropped the song from the movie and pulled it down from all networks."
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