Mumbai: The legal dispute between producer Vashu Bhagnani’s Puja Entertainment and Ramesh Taurani-led Tips Industries has escalated, with Puja Entertainment filing a Rs 400 crore suit before the Bombay High Court over the alleged unauthorised use of songs from the 1999 hit film “Biwi No 1” in Varun Dhawan’s upcoming movie “Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai”.
The suit has been filed against Tips Industries Limited, Ramesh Taurani, Kumar S Taurani and filmmaker David Dhawan. Puja Entertainment has sought urgent reliefs ahead of the film’s scheduled release on June 5, urging the Vacation Court to immediately restrain the release, distribution, exhibition, streaming and further commercial exploitation of the film.
According to the plea, the dispute concerns the alleged unauthorised use of two popular songs from “Biwi No 1” — “Chunnari Chunnari” and “Ishq Sona Hai” — in the upcoming film and its promotional material.
Puja Entertainment has claimed that the makers of “Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai” do not possess the necessary rights to commercially exploit the songs. The production house has demanded removal of the tracks from the film as well as from all promotional campaigns.
It further alleged that title of the film itself is allegedly derived from the song “Ishq Sona Hai”. Puja Entertainment has therefore also sought directions for changing the title of the film, claiming it creates an unlawful association with its original cinematographic work.
In its application seeking urgent circulation during the court vacation, Puja Entertainment stated that despite repeated objections, legal notices and ongoing disputes over the rights, the defendants have continued with the release and promotion of the film.
The production house argued that once the film is released in theatres and across digital, satellite and OTT platforms, its proprietary rights, goodwill and commercial interests would suffer irreversible damage. It further claimed that the balance of convenience lies in its favour and that failure to grant urgent ad-interim relief before release would render the proceedings meaningless.
The matter may be heard next week.
