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MUMBAI: Rakesh Roshan's film Krazzy4
will be released on Friday 11 April 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.
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
dispatched for 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 subjudice, 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."
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