At a hurriedly called press conference today (May 22), producer Vashu Bhagnani said that Ramesh Taurani and Kumar Taurani, whose Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai is slated for release next month, had wronged him by using visuals of two songs — Chunari chunari and Ishq sona hai — from his Biwi No. 1 in their said film. The producer of around 50 films added that while the music rights of his Biwi No. 1 were with Tauranis’ music company, Tips, they did not have the right to commercially exploit his (Bhagnani’s) intellectual property rights for wrongful gain. He also remarked that they could not use the visuals from his film without his permission.
Bhagnani revealed that the trailer launch of Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai yesterday (May 21) was postponed at the last moment because he had obtained an order from a court at Madhepura in Bihar, asking the defendants (Tauranis, Tips Industries Ltd. and David Dhawan) to maintain status quo in the disputed territory of Biwi No. 1 songs and their visuals used in Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai. It may be mentioned here that the producers attributed the cancellation of the trailer launch to “technical glitch”.
While condemning the act of the producers and director David Dhawan of using his songs and their visuals in the forthcoming film as “unethical”, Vashu Bhagnani appealed to them to settle the matter with him out of court by deleting the visuals from their film because the IP was his.
It may be recalled that Vashu Bhagnani had obtained a stay order on May 5 from the court of civil judge senior division – 1st, Katihar (Bihar), precluding the producers and director of Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai from using the visuals of Biwi No. 1 in their film.
At one point, Vashu Bhagnani had also accused the Tauranis and David Dhawan of having used the plot of his Biwi No. 1 in Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai. Ramesh Taurani has denied that Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai is inspired by or a remake of Biwi No. 1. He has also clarified that his company, Tips, owns all the music, digital, visual and video rights of Biwi No. 1 and, therefore, they were justified in using the songs from Bhagnani’s film in Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai, without seeking his permission.