Firoz Nadiadwala Lawsuit: Yo, guess what? Firoz Nadiadwala has only dropped a lawsuit against a Netflix show of Kapil Sharma, The Great Indian Kapil Show shortly before the finale. He is suing the series to pay Rs 25 crore and stop using the Baburao Ganpatrao Apte of the Hera Pheri franchise at least without his consent.
This entire debacle began when a comedian known as Kiku Sharda attempted to perform one of the episodes as the Baburao, the role famously played by the long time actor Paresh Rawal.
According to Nadi who owns the rights to the Hera Pheri, this was nothing more than an obvious attempt to make money on the popularity of the character. Time-wise, it was a risky affair since the program was about to broadcast its final episode, and Akshay Kumar would be featured in the performance.
In the announcement, Nadi states that Baburao is not simply a character, he is the soul of Hera Pheri and is being raised by Paresh, and loved by all age groups. He emphasizes that no one is supposed to abuse or exploit the character without prior consent by the right holders.
The suit uproots the copyright infringement under Section 51 of the Copyright Act 1957, trademark infringement under Section 29 of the Trademarks Act and breach of exclusive rights under Section 14. The most important point to note is that Baburao is a registered trademark of the Nadiadwala family and, therefore, any unauthorised use is a direct violation of the law.
Sana Raees Khan and her legal team urge Netflix, any other third-party sites, and social media to remove all Baburao videos at once. They also require a letter that Baburao will not be re-used without a thumbs-up, they require a formal apology within twenty-four hours and twenty-five crores of damages within two days. Khan refers to it as commercial stealing blatantly and he reminds everybody that creative rights are not free and will be under intense protection.
All the drama has completely ruined what was to be a celebratory finale in the show. Now that Akshay Kumar is already engaged to host the finale episode, the Netflix and the producers are under observation on how they will negotiate out of this legal storm.