No litigation in creative matters, says top court

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday mediated between film-writer Jyoti Kapoor and Bollywood producer-director Kunal Kohli after the latter agreed to pay Kapoor `40 lakh and give credit to her in his forthcoming film ‘Phir Se’.

After recording his undertaking, the bench allowed Kohli to release his movie.

“There should be no litigation in creative matters,” a bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra told Kohli’s counsel senior advocate Pratibha Singh who agreed to a compromise during the hearing.

Kapoor had dragged the producer to the SC on plagiarism charges. She had lost her case before the Bombay high court that allowed Kohli to release the film in lieu of `50 lakh to be paid to her.

Kapoor’s lawyer senior advocate Shyam Divan said his client wasn’t keen on money but wanted credit. Kapoor, who had entered into an agreement with another production company for `40 lakh, said she had received `15 lakh from them. The court, therefore, ordered Kohli to pay `25 lakh to her.

The producer has already deposited `50 lakh to the high court. The SC directed Kohli to pay an additional `10 lakh to the company to compensate them for the loss they allegedly incurred on account of his “stealing the story idea.”