In a big win for Intellectual Property rights and a precedent for public figures’ rights, a Mumbai Court refused the release of ‘Shaadi ke Director Karan Aur Johar’. According to Live Law, the original stay was put in place in July last year. The movie is about two men, Karan and Johar, who wish to become movie directors. Whether someone would name their son Johar was not discussed in the court.
Justice Riyaz Chagla, a single judge of the Bombay High Court, observed that the filmmakers had prima facie violated Bollywood director Karan Johar’s personality rights, publicity rights, and right to privacy by unauthorizedly using his name and personality attributes in the film’s title. The judgement has gone on length and has the following pointers:
- Not just the similarity in names, but the profession is added too.
- In several scenes, the two characters are referred to as Karan Johar.
- Merely putting a disclaimer doesn’t restrict the Plaintiff’s right to take action against violation of the said rights.
In his suit, Karan Johar asserted that he has no association with the film and accused the defendants of unlawfully using his name. The film, co-produced by IndiaPride Advisory Pvt. Ltd. and Sanjay Singh and directed by Bablu Singh, allegedly infringes upon Johar’s personality rights, publicity rights, and right to privacy. The plaintiff contends that the film’s title directly references Johar’s name, unlawfully capitalizing on his brand, reputation, and goodwill without authorization.
Spoof movies are few and far between in India and are nowhere near the kind made in other parts of the world. Spoof concepts haven’t increased more than stray scenes here and there, including the ones in Golmaal (2006) and Jawaan (2023).
The idea of spoofs was fledgling in the nineties, with Ramgarh Ke Sholay, a spoof on Sholay, enjoying success and Star TV running a show that spoofed popular movies. However, India doesn’t have a spoof franchise like Scary Movie or something like that – and it is only a question of when and whether we will have something like that.
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