Copyright row: Kumar Vishwas offers Big B Rs 32
Mr Bachchan's lawyers said Mr Kumar's recitation is likely to mislead the public-at-large about its source.
New Delhi: An ordinary poem recital turned awry for AAP leader Kumar Vishwas, making Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan richer by Rs 32! Never would have Mr Vishwas, who is also a poet, thought that the recital he performed as a tribute to Harivansh Rai Bachchan, would land him in a legal soup.
Mr Vishwas’ attempt to bring alive late Mr Bachchan’s lines “need ka nirman phir-phir” was met with an angry rejoinder from Amitabh Bachchan who termed the video as “copyright infringement” and threatened the poet-turned-politician with a legal suit if it was not taken down immediately. “This is a copyright infringement .. ! legal will take care of this,” Mr Bachchan tweeted.
This evoked a jibe from Mr Vishwas for Mr Bachchan’s inability to regard the tribute in its right spirit and said that “he is sending Rs 32”, which he earned from the video. Although he issued an apology and deleted the video, Mr Vishwas added that he has received appreciation from all quarters for the video. “Rcvd appreciation frm all poet’s family but Notice frm you Sir. Deleting the Tribute video to Babuji. Sending earned Rs 32 as demanded. Pranam,” Mr Vishwas tweeted.
The legal notice said that Mr Bachchan was shocked and surprised to come across a video on the official YouTube page of Kumar Vishwas where he was reciting his father Harivansh Rai Bachchan’s poem without being authorised to use the literary works.
Mr Bachchan’s lawyers said Mr Kumar’s recitation is likely to mislead the public-at-large about its source.
“Your unscrupulous and ignoble acts have caused wrongful loses to our client and wrongful gain to ourselves and further amount to unfair trading and unjust enrichment,” the legal notice said.
They asked the AAP leader to immediately take down the video from the YouTube page and provide Mr Bachchan with accounts of all profits earned from “exploitation of the poem.”