MUMBAI: The Bombay City Civil Court has restrained Kamal Raman Bharadwaj Corporation and Raman Bharadwaj from releasing Kabhi Up Kabhi Down, following a suit filed by Daffodils & Dreams Entertainment Pvt. Ltd on Bharadwaj.

Hasmukh Nandlal Shah, advocate for Daffodils & Dreams Entertainment Pvt. Ltd., says, “We are extremely pleased with the Court’s order dated 15 November, ’06 restraining the release of Kabhi Up Kabhi Down in any manner whatsoever till the disposal of the motion.”

Petittie Group, presenters of Bhojpuri film Ganga starring Amitabh Bachchan, Hema Malini and Manoj Tiwari ‘Mridul’ had launched Hindi film Moon Light in 2005, under the banner of Daffodils & Dreams Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. The film was based on a Shekhar Suman’s hit play, and Suman was to make a comeback on the silver screen with the film. The star cast included Perizaad Zorabian and Kim Sharma, among others. Raman Bharadwaj, a newcomer, was writing and directing the film.

However, in May 2006, Bharadwaj drifted away from the production house and launched Kabhi Up Kabhi Down, under the banner of Kamal Raman Bharadwaj Corporation, headed by Charan Kamal Kaur, Sayeed Naseer Ahmed, and himself. The film, starring Sanjay Suri, Kim Jagtiani, Ninad Kamat and Dinesh Lamba, is directed by Bharadwaj and is 95 per cent complete. The production house is now alleging that Bharadwaj has stolen Moon Light’s script and used it for Kabhi Up Kabhi Down.

Shah informs, “Raman Bharadwaj had approached my client to give him the chance of writing and directing the film Moon Light, which is around 60 to 70 per cent complete. Shekhar Suman was displeased with Bharadwaj. Even the makers found that him incompetent. He was removed from the services and was paid his contractual remuneration.”

“The script and the film is protected by the Copyright laws. Nevertheless, it was found that Raman Bharadwaj had played foul. Being a director, he had access to the copy of the script. He hoodwinked a lady Charan Kamal Kaur to fund a film for him. Kabhi Up Kabhi Down is the same film and script of Moon Light. We found that he was filming the same script, with a different title and star cast. In July 2006, we sent a notice to Bharadwaj. We issued public notices in various film trade magazines and even informed the Indian Motion Picture Producers’ Association (IMPPA). In August, we found Bharadwaj’s new address and filed a suit. He hired a lawyer and tried to prove that his film has no connection with Moon Light. Both the scripts were presented in court,” he adds.

Continues Shah, “After Diwali, we filed a fresh petition St. No. 42 of 2006 before the Hon. Bombay City Civil Court. The Hon. Court, Coram: H.H.J. Hon. Shri D.V. Marathe has passed the order staying the release of the film. It was learnt that he was negotiating to sell the film to Koffee Break Pictures. We have issued a public notice again on 18 November in film trade magazines. We have not mentioned Charan Kamal Kaur in our petition, as we are assuming that she may not been aware of Bharadwaj’s wrongdoing.” 

Archit M. Jayakar, advocate for Raman Bharadwaj was unavailable for comment.