Mumbai:
Producer Vashu Bhagnani, who is involved in a legal clash with David Dhawan, said that his son Varun Dhawan never bothered to check on him after their 2020 collaboration Coolie No. 1 sank without a trace.
The producer held a virtual press conference in light of the fresh legal battle with David Dhawan and music label Tips.
The lawsuit filed by Vashu Bhagnani in Katihar, Bihar, centres on the upcoming Bollywood film Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai, starring Varun Dhawan. Vashu Bhagnani filed a lawsuit against Tips Industries and associated parties, alleging unauthorized use of intellectual property linked to older hit films like Biwi No.1.
Talking about the same, he told the media, “Very honestly, after this case, there is some bitterness in all relationships. But Varun hasn’t called me in 2 years anyway. We made Coolie No. 1 in 2020, suffered a loss of INR 27 crore, he never even bothered to ask how I was doing. If he maintains the relationship, fine. If not, that’s fine too. I lost a lot of money being with him. He is like my child, children make mistakes. Father and son, so be it”.
The immediate trigger behind the lawsuit was the recreated use of the iconic song Chunari Chunari from Biwi No.1.
The producer further mentioned, “My heart is broken. I am not afraid of anyone in this world, not even my father. I am proud that I have never done wrong to anyone. But I am broken because after doing so much, they are making me out to be the thief, the fool. Varun Dhawan is saying these things. David Ji is saying these things. Ramesh Ji too. There is no need for this.”
Furthermore, Bhagnanai expressed how emotionally hurt he is about how the song was used without his consent.
He added, “At least mere paas aate aur kehte Vashu mai yeh gaana karna hai mera beta hai..(He shouldn’t have taken these songs. (At least he should have come to me and told me what to do my son is there)….How can you shoot the same songs for another producer? There has to be ethics in the industry……”
“We had such a good relationship. Even now I am saying, call them on this call, I will settle it in 10 minutes. But if they don’t want to, how can it be settled? They were so confident until 3 days ago, ‘What can Vashu do to us?’” he added.
The trailer of Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai was also suddenly cancelled, stating reasons such as ‘technical glitch’.
Vashu Bhagnani reacted, “They cancelled because they were aware about the contempt of court. Now they have gone and filed in Patna court. They knew very clearly that if anything happened, it would be contempt of court. But they made an excuse by calling it a glitch.”
“At that time, we used to give the video to Shemaroo, Ultra and other people. And we used to give audio to Tips and Venus. But I used to give to Tips. Remove my visuals, do a deal with me, or take permission, that’s all I am asking. “How can you shoot the same songs for another producer? There has to be ethics in the industry,” argued Vashu Bhagnani.
Vashu Bhagnani claimed that although Tips owned audio rights, the underlying film-linked intellectual property and recreation permissions still required consent or involvement from his side.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
