Sanjay Dutt gets served

It looks like Sanjay Dutt’s remake of the 2010 Telugu poltical drama Prasthanam has got itself into some legal trouble. Production-distribution company Shemaroo Entertainment Ltd has issued a legal notice to Sanjay Dutt and his associates, questioning their right to remake Prasthanam in Hindi.

Ketan Maru, Shemaroo’s Senior Vice-President for film production, confirms the news. “Yes, we have sent a legal notice to Mr Dutt and others associated with the remake of 2010 Telugu film Prasthanam. That’s because we at Shemaroo have the remake rights of the film.”

Maru points out that the intention behind drawing attention to the illegal remake is not mercenary. “We are not proceeding legally against this remake to create trouble for them. Shemaroo is a reputed company with a distinguished and spotless track record. We only want to see justice being done in this matter. And as far as we can see, anyone else except us remaking Prasthanam is illegal,” he says.

He adds that the matter was brought up with Dutt long before: “We acquired the rights in 2012. When we read the announcement of Mr Dutt’s remake, we immediately drew attention to the fact that the remake rights of Prasthanam were with us. However, they paid no attention and proceeded to remake the film.”

The VP, however, doesn’t want to put blame Dutt entirely. “Producers are known to sell remake rights of one film to two, sometimes three, producers. It is possible that they (Dutt and co) paid a substantial amount of money to buy the Prasthanam rights without knowing the rights were sold to us. However, they proceeded to make the film fully aware that the rights were with us. This cannot be overlooked,” he concludes.