Bappi's on a song

On Monday morning, while Sunanda Mitra’s Ogo Bodhu Sundori was being screened, the film was also dragged to court by Kamal Bansal and RDB & Company Hus.
While the case will take its legal path, what also draws attention is a sub-plot that involves a lesbian marriage. Perhaps, this is the first time in the history of Indian cinema that any movie has openly shown a lesbian wedding!
Ask Sunanda why he decided to use the lesbian wedding scene and he says, “It was a sub-plot.In Uttam Kumar’s OBS, there was a reference to living together, which was a taboo then. I brought in the issue of a lesbian wedding.” Sunanda, however, isn’t sure of whether a lesbian marriage is legally accepted in India, even though same sex relationships have been decriminalized in our country. “I haven’t explored that aspect at all. The characters, Apeksha and Pratiksha, have been incorporated as a comic interlude. This angle wasn’t meant to set a benchmark. It was done in good humour,” the director says.
As for the copyright controversy is concerned, on Monday afternoon, Justice Sanjib Banerjee directed that the picture will be released on this Friday without three songs (Nari choritro, Tui joto phul and Ei toh jibon) which were originally used in OBS. The original logo of OBS can’t be used either. Says composer Bappi Lahiri, who had scored songs for both the movies, “I never anticipated such a thing. The person who owned the music copyright of Uttam Kumar’s film is also the same person who released the music of Mitra’s film. I haven’t watched the movie yet. Since I’m in Dubai, I don’t know the status of the case either. I think, things will get resolved.”
Sovan Saha, director of Inreco which released the songs of Mitra’s film said, “I had the music rights of Uttam Kumar’s OBS and subsequently, assigned them to the makers of the new film. Earlier, I’ve given such music rights to other films too and have never been challenged. If it’s true that I don’t have the right to assign them to anyone, it will also be a blow to many music labels which often assign rights this way. This case bears a similarity to the Houseful copyright infringement case that’s still being fought in court.” Says advocate Vipul Kundalia, who appeared for Mitra’s film, “We’ll try to see that the movie releases with the songs. Of course, we’ll keep in mind the court’s order and comply with it. Last weekend, we did anticipate that something could happen. That’s why we had filed a caveat before the court, anticipating legal actions by the producers of Uttam Kumar’s OBS.”
Says Varsha Bansal, director of RDB Entertainment, “The rights of the songs belong to the producer, RDB & Company Hus. We wanted to restrict them from the use of the three songs and the logo, which has a huge recall value. That’s what the judge has granted us.” But why did the Bansals wait for so long to raise this issue? “We were not aware of this matter till July. When we got to know, Inreco and the representative of the producers approached us wanting to share the royalty with us. But, we were offended. I’m happy that the verdict is in our favour.”
But with the makers of Mitra’s movie trying to find ways of releasing the film with the songs, seems like there will be a lot more noise to be heard in Kolkata’s legal corridors.
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