Hindi movie Tera Kya Hoga Johny may not release on December 31 post a court injunction
Hindi movie Tera Kya Hoga Johny may not release on December 31 post a court injunction
The Dindoshi Court on December 24 restrained the Mumbai release of Tera Kya Hoga Johny. The Hindi film was set to hit screens on December 17, but was later postponed to December 31. Post the order, the movie, starring Neil Nitin Mukesh, Soha Ali Khan, Shahana Goswami and Kay Kay Menon will be further delayed.
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| SMD first carried the report about the warring co-producers of the film on December 12, 2010 |
The court was hearing a suit filed by UK-based businessman Karan Arora against Manu Kumaran, CEO Medient Worldwide Holdings.
Arora, who is the co-producer of the film along with Kumaran, lodged a cheque bouncing case against Kumaran and asked the court to stay the film's release. He has also held Delhi based M/s Century Communication, the maker of the film, a party in the case.u00a0
In the order (a copy of which is with this paper), the judge pointed out that the advocate for the plaintiff invited his attention to clause (d) of the agreement dated August 14, 2010.
But the lab letter mentioned therein was not produced before the court, in which case it is difficult to accept the submission of the plaintiff (Arora) that he holds lien on the prints for all the territories. Hence, no relief was granted for territories other than Mumbai.
As per the order, advocate Dinesh Tiwari, who represented Arora, apprehended that once the film is released in other territories, the negative could be used by the defendants to screen it in Mumbai , and hence he asked the court for protection, which was accordingly granted by the court until further order.
Kumaran is upset with Arora for taking the matter to court. "The lab letter was issued to him on my directives to the lab, wherein it was an assurance that the film could not be released until he is paid," he said.
Kumaran added, "The entire movie has a budget of Rs 7.50 crore and Arora has only invested Rs 1.25 crores in the film. But his act (of going to court) has already created panic among distributors.
The promos and advertising campaign for the film were already out, assuming that it would release on time (December 17), but the extension will cost us more."
When asked if this was a publicity stunt, Kumaran said, "We are not interested in hype where we incur daily losses and cannot even concentrate on other projects until this film is released." The matter will come up for hearing on January 21, 2011.
The story so farIn 2008, both Arora and Kumaran had struck a Rs 5.28 crore deal with M/s Century Communications. Arora entered into a contract with Kumaran and agreed to invest Rs 1.25 crore, while Kumaran was to contribute Rs 50 lakh for the film.
Arora has accused Kumaran of holding the release of the movie at the appropriate time (early 2009) hoping that it would fetch more revenue from sponsors, as Mukesh was gaining popularity for his role in another movie, which was released during the said period. Subsequently a rift developed between the two.
After negotiations, they entered into another agreement on August 13, 2010. Kumaran was to pay Arora his contribution of Rs 1.25 crore, a month before releasing the movie and issued a cheque. However, the cheque bounced and Arora held Kumaran responsible for dishonoring of the cheque under the Negotiable Instrument Act.
Accordingly, a civil and criminal case was filed against Kumaran and M/s Century Communication at the City Civil Court, Dindoshi.
