Verdict reserved on allegations of plagiarism in `Nishabd'

New Delhi, Feb 23 (IANS) The Delhi High Court Friday reserved its verdict on a petition accusing ace Bollywood director Ram Gopal Varma of plagiarism in making his latest film Nishabd, starring megastar Amitabh Bachchan.

Justice A.K. Sikri reserved the judgement on petition by Kanungo Media Pvt Ltd after hearing the arguments on the allegations of plagiarism from both sides. The bench said it would pronounce the verdict on March 2 when Nishabd is to be released.

Justice Sikri, while reserving the verdict dismissed Kanungo's counsel Kartik Jai Shankar's plea for a ban on the release of the film.

Counsel Rajiv Nayar, appearing for Varma, argued that the petition of Jahar Kanungo should be dismissed as there was no violation of the Copyright Act or Trademark Act as both the films are different and having different storylines.

The "Nisshabda" produced by Kanungo was in Bengali and it was an art film in documentary form, submitted Nayar.

Moreover, Kanungo despite knowing about the title of Varma's film approached the court just before the scheduled release of the film, he pointed out.

Citing evidence, he said on May 8, 2006 Kanungo had written an e-mail to Western Indian Film Producers Association about the title of the film. Accordingly, he should have earlier approached Varma or the court on the matter, said Nayar.

Kanoungo's counsel, Shankar, however, contended that Varma had knowingly infringed on the intellectual property rights over the name and title of Kanungo's film 'Nisshabda' which had won many international awards.

Kanungo said that his "Nisshabda" was produced with the financial aid, released under the French government's "Fonds Sud Cinema" scheme in Nov 2002.

The Central Board of Film Certification too subsequently had cleared the name for the film in June 2005, said the petition.

Incidentally, the same court earlier had stayed the release of Varma's "Ram Gopal Varma Kay Sholay" on a petition filed by Sascha Sippy, the director of the original Sholay producer Sippy Films, for using the names "Sholay" and "Gabbar Singh" in his film.

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