Mumbai: In another turn of events, the raging legal battle between T-Series and RGV is now in overdrive. On 18 March, an FIR was lodged against RGV in the Noida Court, where the T-Series headquarter is located. The charges that have been filed against RGV include criminal breach of trust, extortion, fraud, conspiracy and cheating, under IPC sections 385, 409, 420, 421, 422.
The case dates back to 27 January, when Ram Gopal Varma claimed that T-Series had forged contracts which gave home video and audio rights of 14 movies from the RGV stable to the former. To this, T-Series replied by submitting the documents in court and till date await justice. Since then, numerous claims have been made by both parties and the truth seems even more obscure than earlier.
As the record goes, the contract signed between RGV and T-Series gave T-Series the rights to 14 RGV movies out of which 4 including- Darwaaza bandh Rakho, Sarkar, Nishabd and Shiva have already been released. Go was sold to Big Music and Sarkar Raj was supposed to be part of the T-Series deal. When the delivery of the same came up, Varma refused flat-out, disputing the authenticity of the agreement.
T-Series marketing and promotions president Vinod Bhanushali says, "We’ve paid nearly 2 crores towards the deal with RGV and in publicity for Ram Gopal Varma ki Aag. For him to now to back out of the agreement is illegal. The audio and home video rights for Sarkar Raj belong to us. The documents we have are genuine." The question here also arises that if the documents had to be illegitimate, then how did four of prime RGV movies come to T-Series?
Although the outcome of this controversy remains uncertain, Sarkar Raj will not see an audio or home video release till the legalities are over. As a parting shot, Bhanushali said, "We didn’t start these legal proceedings and never planned to either. But, if someone tries to malign our reputation and goodwill, we have to retaliate."
