Bollywood's New Emosanal Atyachar

Are our Big time Movie Producers, unethical, two-bit, double-crossing smooth operators?

Or is this a new,dark and nefarious type of publicity gimmick thought up by some really spaced-out marketing wizard,which has gone terribly wrong after the first time around?The past one year shows a very interesting trend.(I also have come to suspect the dark humor on the side of the Producer fraternity too.)

It seems now that along with the big-budget movie productions slated for release,hyped over the three weeks prior to their release, a new activity has been added to the ones that we are used to,over time.Along with the audio release,trailer/promo release,the movie's micro - site with wall papers,screen savers and the like,there is a very interesting addition to the whole proceedings.The LAWSUIT.
It isn't funny.It is so true.

Flash back One - April 2008.

The lawsuit activity hit big time,and center stage prior to the release of Krazzy 4 ,as some of the tracks that were used by Rakesh Roshan for the movie were outright plagiarism of famed ad-jingle maker Ram Sampath.The fertilizer hit the fan on a Wednesday, rose to fever pitch,as the blogosphere hummed,the TV channels debated with rabid intensity on the ethics employed by the Roshans -(the refrain being,they have money,they can do anything) and the next morning,to the collective sigh of Bollywood,they reached an out-of-court settlement and The movie went on to be released the next day.This was all the more interesting as it was the high-voltage David-pitted-against-the Goliath story and the media ran with it.

Flash back Two - December 2008.

This time it was Aamir's version of Ghajini,slated for release on 25 December. Just when you thought you had been snowed under the pre-release hype,the issue was,confusing,perplexing and bordering on the bizarre.The injuction was given in Chennai and Mumbai High Courts,though Mr.Chandrashekharan was 'surprised, shocked and perplexed' as to how Geetha Arts and Murugadoss could entertain any idea of producing the film in Hindi when they had not been given any rights for the same.",he also revealed that he had come to know about the project going on the floors in April itself!!! Whoa.Now,that is what I call timing.

Flash back Three - September 2009.

Salman's comeback (?) Wanted Dead and Alive release date had Boney Kapoor running around looking for money to someone who allegedly claimed he owed a bit.10 Crore,to be exact.The hassled one was LMB Holdings, a B4U group company, who claimed Boney Kapoor owed them 10 crores and wanted a stay till he paid it back.Boney deposited the money,and Sallubhai will pound the baddies,starting Sep 18,2009.

Jumpcut to September 16, 2009.

But,all is not well with Kamal Haasan-Mohanlal Combine Unnaippol Oruvan,due for release on September 18th.The HC has unequivocally put its er..hammer down and asked Kamal to obey a status quo on the litigation filed by Pyramid Saimira over the alleged advance amount they paid for Marmayogi, which is surprisingly another 10 crore!!!Whoa again!So,unless any miracle happen in the next 48 hours,(which I think will happen,as far as trends go),the Movie will again emerge the winner,relegating the ethics to the background,till another time and another big production.

Come to think about it, you have become so conditioned to this 'activity' along with the current marketing spiel,that it would be less all the fun without having one legal suit for every movie release.

What say?