Liquor firm invites producer's wrath

MUMBAI: Imitation may be the best form of flattery, but not for film-maker Vidhu Vinod Chopra who plans to slap a multi-crore copyright violation suit against a liquor company for using characters from his film Munnabhai MBBS in a radio advertisement.
In the ad, Circuit is confirming Munnabhai''s admission in medical college and an overjoyed Munnabhai wants the college dean to join in the celebrations.Chopra is also aggrieved by the fact that his film, which won the national award for wholesome entertainment, is being used to promote alcohol. "It is extremely damaging to the reputation of our company because we have never associated with tobacco or alcohol brands," Chopra told TOI.
He feels it is "unethical and illegal on the part of the brand to try and encash on the success of the film" without notifying the producers.
A spokesperson from the liquor company said the ad agency had taken legal opinion in the matter. "Using movie characters in ads is not illegal. There have been spoofs on several popular movies like Sholay and Mughal-e-Azam," he says.
However, Chopra''s legal counsel, Amitabh Gupta, insists that a spoof on a popular character is different from directly using the theme and name of characters.
Law experts admit that there are several loopholes in the copyright act. For instance, a model dressing up as a popular character and mouthing dialogue from a movie does not amount to copyright violation when the name of the character is withheld.
Ad agencies get around the law by playing up the recall value of the character: recall the several ads with Gabbar Singh from Sholay or Prince Salim from Mughal-e-Azam.