Prakash Raj failed to appear before Bombay High Court which summoned him over a case related to his Hindi film Tadka. His counsel said that the actor was busy campaigning for the upcoming Lok Sabha Elections.
Prakash Raj was summoned by the Bombay High Court in a case pertaining to the Intellectual Property Rights between his brother in law’s company and Zee Studios, says India Today. The actor was asked to appear before the court on Monday. But the actor’s counsel, Saveena Sachar, informed the court that he was involved in the campaigning activities. He will be contesting from the Bangalore Central Constituency in the upcoming Lok Sabha Polls.
Prakash Raj has been caught up in a legal brawl with Zee Studios over his movie Tadka. The movie, a remake of the 2011 Malayalam film Salt n Pepper, was remade by the actor into Hindi starring Nana Patekar, Shriya Saran, Taapsee Pannu and Ali Fazal in the lead.
Though originally scheduled for a 2017 release, the movie got pushed ever since a row erupted between Zee Pictures and the filmmaker. The company has alleged that Prakash Raj sold some of the rights of the film to Akshay Communications.
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According to Times Now, Zee Studios says that a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between partners Sameer Dixit-Jatish Verma and Zee Studios. The studio claims that “Intellectual Property Rights of the film was jointly owned by them, While Zee Studios’ share was 60 percent, Verma and Dixit had a 40 percent share, and according to the MoU, the exploitation rights of the film was “solely and completely vested” with Zee Studios. As per the agreement, if any of the parties had to sell their rights, then it would be only to each other.” It has been reported that the studio had also paid Rs 4,25,00,000 plus taxes to Sameer and Jatish during the signing of the MoU.
In their complaint, the studio has alleged that “Prakash purposely did not execute the said MoU, so as to calculatedly defeat the rights (belonging to Zee Studios) in collusion and connivance with Verma and Dixit.”
The next hearing has been scheduled for February 15.