RELEASE OF ‘SARKAR 3’ MAY BE STALLED WORLDWIDE OVER COPYRIGHT ISSUES

RELEASE OF ‘SARKAR 3’ MAY BE STALLED WORLDWIDE OVER COPYRIGHT ISSUES - Narendra Hirawat & Co holds the Copyrights and Negative rights for the Prequel, Sequel and Remake of Sarkar franchise - Ram Gopal Verma and Alumbra Productions have failed to take permission in any form for the making of ‘Sarkar 3’ from the copyright holders 2nd May 2017; Mumbai: A veteran in the Bollywood Entertainment industry and holder of the copyrights of over 1300 movies, Narendra & Co has filed a legal case against the makers of Amitabh Bachchan starrer ‘Sarkar 3’. Narendra Hirawat & Co acquired the copyrights of Sarkar franchise after the release of the second part and is in possession of Prequel, Sequel, Remake and all other irreversible world negative rights in perpetuity. “We are extremely disappointed with this move from the Producers of Sarkar 3. As a cautionary step, we even issued a notice to the makers in October 2016, but they have still failed to obtain permission from us for the release of the movie. We have bought all the legal rights of Sarkar franchise years ago and are left with no other option than to approach the high court. Looking at the current situation, we are hopeful that the court will grant injunction and subsequently stop the release of Sarkar 3”, said Mr. Shreyans Hirawat, Executive Head of Narendra Hirawat & Co. Sarkar 3 is the third part of the Sarkar franchise and is scheduled for release of 12th May 2017. The first installment of the franchise was titled ‘Sarkar’ and was released on 1st July 2005. Sarkar was followed by ‘Sarkar Raj’ subsequently and was released on 6th June 2008. All the copyrights of the franchise were acquired by Narendra Hirawat & Co on 18th October 2008. Once the court grants injunction, the makers will have to stop the release of the movie on 12th May 2017 or they may face criminal / civil penalties if they fail to comply with the court order. If they still go ahead and release the movie, they will be charged with contempt of court and will include possible monetary sanctions or even imprisonment.