MUMBAI: Rakesh Roshan’s film Krazzy4 will be released on Friday 11 April 2008 with its title track deleted.
Music composer Ram Sampath, who sought legal recourse for his 60-second music titled ?‹?“The Thump being copied as the title track of Krazzy 4, has also been granted interim relief of Rs 25,00,000 by the Mumbai High court on Thursday. Sampath had dragged Hrithik Roshans director father Rakesh Roshan and composer uncle Rajesh Roshan, to court, alleging that they have directly lifted his music for the Krazzy4 album, seeking damages of Rs 20 million.
The court instructed the Roshans to delete two songs if they want to release the film on Friday. While delivering the verdict, Justice Karnik of the Mumbai high court said, “To my untrained ear, the music appeared to be similar,” after listening to both Sampath’s work for a Sony Ericsson cellphone advertisement, and the two songs composed by Rajesh Roshan for the film.
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The verdict implies that the much hyped Hrithik Roshan number and Shah Rukh Khan’s Break Free item numbers in the film will have to be removed, reports say. This is easier said than done as the film prints have already been dispatchedfor the overseas release, as well as territories outside Mumbai.
Sampaths lawyer Virendra Tulzapurkar told the court that mere monetary compensation would not suffice, adding that The SMS-s sent by Hrithik establish that they knew the music was not created by them. They have done this knowingly and deliberately, reports say.
The lawyer also presented the opinion of Shiv Mathur, an independent expert, who confirmed Sampaths allegation of plagiarism. Tulzapurkar added that the defendants were earning Rs 70 million per month simply from ringtone downloads and Rs 25 million per month from the sales of the music.
Sampath, 32, who has composed music for over 3,000 advertisements, music tracks of films like Khakee and Lets Talk, and even done a remix for pop sensation Justin Timberlake, had filed a suit for copyright infringement in Bombay High Court. He alleged that four tracks from Krazzy4 were direct lifts from the music he had composed for an advertisement titled ?‹?“Thump for Sony Ericsson phones in March 2007.
While Sampath remained unavailable for comment, his singer wife Sona Sampath said, “as the matter is sub judice, anything we say will affect us adversely. One individual against so many institutions is tough and we don’t want to jeopardise the case , but believe the truth shall prevail.”
