BOLLYWOOD actor Shah Rukh Khan was on Friday (October 21) ordered to deposit $200,000 (£125,464) with an Indian court after a scriptwriter claimed that the star’s new superhero film had breached copyright.
Two judges at the Bombay High Court said there appeared to be a prima facie infringement of intellectual property and told Khan to pay Rs10m to the court or risk the release of Ra.One being postponed.
Scriptwriter Yash Patnaik took Khan, his Red Chillies Entertainment production company and the film’s distributors, Eros Entertainment, to court, claiming that he owned the copyright on the concept.
He said he was not given due credit and is also claiming that he should receive 10 per cent of the film’s profits.
Passing the order, Chief Justice Mohit Shah and judge Roshan Dalvi observed that it was “unfortunate that people in the film industry use others’ concepts and then don’t want to pay or give them credit”.
The case was adjourned for a further hearing.
Ra.One, which cost an estimated $20m (£12.53m) to make and is packed with special effects, is due out in India next Wednesday (October 26), with Khan playing superhero “G.One” who fights the evil “Ra.One” to save humanity.
The film is the 45-year-old actor’s most ambitious to date and has been aggressively marketed for several months.
There was no immediate comment from Khan or Eros Entertainment but sources indicated that they were willing to pay the deposit to prevent the film’s release being stalled.
