Jyoti Kapoor’s hard-won moral and financial victory over director Kunal Kohli for stealing her script for his movie Phir Se is yet another sign that screenwriters are increasingly vigilant about their rights, are not afraid to complain against producers and directors at the risk of losing future assignments, and are even willing to engage in litigation. The Supreme Court recently ordered Kohli to pay Kapoor Rs 25 lakh and give her story credit for Phir Se. “This is a professional, legal and moral victory for my fraternity and me,” she told Mumbai Mirror.
There is no better place to view the keyboard-is-as-mighty-as-the-sword drama than at the Film Writers Association, which gets at least half a dozen new complaints about stolen credit or unpaid dues every month, said General Secretary Kamlesh Pandey. “Our industry has been unprofessional in the past and remains so,” said Pandey, who has written the screenplay or dialogue for such titles as Chaalbaaz, Tezaab, Dil and Delhi-6. “There is still a feudal mindset where filmmakers think they are doing us a favour by giving us work.”
The FWA has a Dispute Settlement Committee made up of writers and lawyers. Although the committee doesn’t have legal status, it has become a useful mid-way point between enraged writers and obdurate producers, both of whom might be reluctant to go to court. “We are like a panchayat,” Pandey said. “We look at the complaints, go through the documents and evidence, and hear both sides. Sometimes, the other party will refuse to attend meetings, in which case we give them three chances. If they still refuse to show up, we pass an ex parte decision in favour of the complainant. But if things still don’t work out, the complainants are free to go to court.”
The FWA is a member of the Federation of Western India Cine Employees, a trade union that represents the various occupational groups that make the movies possible, including cinematographers, make-up artists, hair dressers and stunt performers. The FWA has been in existence since 1950, but its current activism began as recently as 2007, following a conference of screenwriters at the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune. Since then, the FWA has been extremely vocal in demanding fair and just treatment of writers, whether it is at the time of signing contracts or protecting the writer’s rights during the filmmaking process. The association got tremendous legitimacy from the notification of the Copyright (Amendment) Act, 2012 which stipulates, among other things, copyright protection for lyricists, writers and music composers and royalty payments. Its 14,000-strong membership includes writers working in and aspiring to be a part of the movie business and, despite its title, the larger and more lucrative television industry.
Left out of copyright
The newfound activism among writers has resulted in a spike in the number of cases being filed by them, said Vinod Ranganath, chairperson of the Disputes Settlement Committee. “We actually get about 30 to 40 cases in a month, but on an average at least 10 don’t merit attention,” he said. “At least 10 or 12 of the cases have to do with credit violations and non-payment issues, while six to seven have to do with copyright infringement or IP [intellectual property] related issues.”
Writers are not always clear about what constitutes copyright violation, said Ranganath, citing recent complaints against the celebrity cookery show Farah Ki Daawat, anchored by choreographer and director Farah Khan on Colors TV. “The complainants said the idea of a celebrity host inviting other celebrities to cook had been stolen, but they didn’t realise that this is a standard format,” Ranganath said. “We explain that the copyright lies not in the idea but the expression of the idea – we give the example of the number of films that Romeo and Juliet has inspired, from West Side Story to Bobby.”
Some of the biggest skirmishes are taking place between television writers and satellite channels. Television networks hire commissioning editors and screening committees to create or vet new concepts, and piracy and theft are hardly uncommon practices. Ranganath gives a typical example: a content creation company pitches an idea to a channel, but it is rejected. A few months later, the company finds that its idea has been turned into a show without receiving any credit or payment.
“Sometimes, we find the definite lifting of ideas and plotlines,” Ranganath said. “If there is no premium given to a person’s right, how can an industry survive or succeed?”
If the FWA seems to be doing its job effectively enough, what makes complainants take the expensive and potentially risky route of going to court? Since the FWA has a non-legal status, it cannot go beyond playing third-party advice dispenser and recommending the amount of compensation. The FWA cannot stop the broadcast of a disputed television series or a movie. It also cannot ensure the ignominy that is heaped on a channel or a producer who loses face – and several lakhs of rupees – in court.
Many of the better-known victories in copyright violation cases have come from the courts. Before Jyoti Kapoor, Kapil Chopra, the writer of Jannat 2, went to court and won against producer Vishesh Films in 2012. Chopra had accused Vishesh Films, run by Mukesh and Mahesh Bhatt, of denying him screenplay credit for the sequel to Jannat.
Some other cases have been settled out of court, such as Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Guzaarish. Its writer, Tabish Romani, filed a complaint with the FWA that he had been denied his story credit. He was paid Rs 3 lakh by Bhansali’s production company. Another case that is being dragged through the courts involve Abhishek Kapoor, the director of Rock On!, and the writer and producer of its sequel. Kapoor claims that he has not been credited for his contributions to Rock On 2, which will be made by another director. Its writer, Pubali Chaudhuri, and producer Excel Films, claim that she was the one who developed the screenplay, which has been registered with the FWA.
A problem nearly as old as the industry
Disgruntlement has been a part of a writer’s quiver for nearly as long as the film industry has been around. The Coen brothers’ masterpiece, Barton Fink, remains one of the best expositions of an idealistic writer’s encounters with the Hollywood machinery.
Veteran writer and director Vinay Shukla, who has such films as Viraasat, Godmother and Mirch to his credit, pointed out that the inferior position accorded to writers in Hindi cinema has much to do with the separation of roles between the person writing the screenplay and the dialogue. This confusing demarcation continues till date, where one person writes the screenplay, which details the shot breakdown and character development, among other things, and another enhances the screenplay with sharp, audience-friendly dialogue.
“If we look at the situation from a historical perspective, the writer was considered a munshi [scribe],” said Shukla, who is a former FWA president and a current member. “Barring a few writes and producers, the writer was more or less working on a concept that had been given by the filmmakers.” The term that was in vogue in the film industry until very recently was the “sitting”, Shukla pointed out. This referred to a session where the director, producer and hand-picked confidantes would be in attendance to decide the merits of a script by committee.
Hindi cinema has produced its share of star writers, such as Abrar Alvi, Pandit Mukhram Sharma, Rahi Masoom Raza, Salim-Javed, Wajahat Ali Mirza and Sachin Bhowmick, but by and large, writers have been a “subservient commodity”, Shukla observed. “Writers somehow did not have an individual identity, but the situation started changing in the 1990s, when a younger crop of writers came in and started demanding recognition.”
It is no coincidence that the decade of liberalisation has proved to be liberating for some writers – this is the period when the popular Hindi film template underwent several changes. New star names appeared on the marquee; old themes got tweaked to suit shifting tastes and attitudes; subjects that would have been considered alternative a few years ago entered the mainstream. Yet, the desire to change the way movies were being told didn’t change the way they had been made for decades: writers were still relegated to second-rung status; payments and development fees (crucial if a production is delayed) were still being delayed, and credit and copyright were still being held back.
Apart from directors who write their own material, even producers are banging away on their keyboards, tempted by the royalties for original work that is promised by the Copyright Amendment Bill, said Kamlesh Pandey. Satellite television channels and film studios are developing teams of in-house writers who might have little or no negotiation power over copyright or payment. For every writer who files a complaint or a court case, there are several others who don’t dare raise their voices because they worry about being blacklisted.
“We are the most envied people in the industry because the real star of the film is the writer,” Pandey said. Nowhere has this belief been truer than in 2015, in which a series of script-backed films, including NH10, Piku, Dum Laga Ke Haisha and Bajrangi Bhaijaan, have proved to be a hit with audiences.
“With so many corporations in the movie business, there is bound to be greater accountability,” said filmmaker Rohan Sippy. “It’s a good practice for the industry, and it is most necessary if the industry wants to really grow up.”
There is no better place to view the keyboard-is-as-mighty-as-the-sword drama than at the Film Writers Association, which gets at least half a dozen new complaints about stolen credit or unpaid dues every month, said General Secretary Kamlesh Pandey. “Our industry has been unprofessional in the past and remains so,” said Pandey, who has written the screenplay or dialogue for such titles as Chaalbaaz, Tezaab, Dil and Delhi-6. “There is still a feudal mindset where filmmakers think they are doing us a favour by giving us work.”
The FWA has a Dispute Settlement Committee made up of writers and lawyers. Although the committee doesn’t have legal status, it has become a useful mid-way point between enraged writers and obdurate producers, both of whom might be reluctant to go to court. “We are like a panchayat,” Pandey said. “We look at the complaints, go through the documents and evidence, and hear both sides. Sometimes, the other party will refuse to attend meetings, in which case we give them three chances. If they still refuse to show up, we pass an ex parte decision in favour of the complainant. But if things still don’t work out, the complainants are free to go to court.”
The FWA is a member of the Federation of Western India Cine Employees, a trade union that represents the various occupational groups that make the movies possible, including cinematographers, make-up artists, hair dressers and stunt performers. The FWA has been in existence since 1950, but its current activism began as recently as 2007, following a conference of screenwriters at the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune. Since then, the FWA has been extremely vocal in demanding fair and just treatment of writers, whether it is at the time of signing contracts or protecting the writer’s rights during the filmmaking process. The association got tremendous legitimacy from the notification of the Copyright (Amendment) Act, 2012 which stipulates, among other things, copyright protection for lyricists, writers and music composers and royalty payments. Its 14,000-strong membership includes writers working in and aspiring to be a part of the movie business and, despite its title, the larger and more lucrative television industry.
Left out of copyright
The newfound activism among writers has resulted in a spike in the number of cases being filed by them, said Vinod Ranganath, chairperson of the Disputes Settlement Committee. “We actually get about 30 to 40 cases in a month, but on an average at least 10 don’t merit attention,” he said. “At least 10 or 12 of the cases have to do with credit violations and non-payment issues, while six to seven have to do with copyright infringement or IP [intellectual property] related issues.”
Writers are not always clear about what constitutes copyright violation, said Ranganath, citing recent complaints against the celebrity cookery show Farah Ki Daawat, anchored by choreographer and director Farah Khan on Colors TV. “The complainants said the idea of a celebrity host inviting other celebrities to cook had been stolen, but they didn’t realise that this is a standard format,” Ranganath said. “We explain that the copyright lies not in the idea but the expression of the idea – we give the example of the number of films that Romeo and Juliet has inspired, from West Side Story to Bobby.”
Some of the biggest skirmishes are taking place between television writers and satellite channels. Television networks hire commissioning editors and screening committees to create or vet new concepts, and piracy and theft are hardly uncommon practices. Ranganath gives a typical example: a content creation company pitches an idea to a channel, but it is rejected. A few months later, the company finds that its idea has been turned into a show without receiving any credit or payment.
“Sometimes, we find the definite lifting of ideas and plotlines,” Ranganath said. “If there is no premium given to a person’s right, how can an industry survive or succeed?”
If the FWA seems to be doing its job effectively enough, what makes complainants take the expensive and potentially risky route of going to court? Since the FWA has a non-legal status, it cannot go beyond playing third-party advice dispenser and recommending the amount of compensation. The FWA cannot stop the broadcast of a disputed television series or a movie. It also cannot ensure the ignominy that is heaped on a channel or a producer who loses face – and several lakhs of rupees – in court.
Many of the better-known victories in copyright violation cases have come from the courts. Before Jyoti Kapoor, Kapil Chopra, the writer of Jannat 2, went to court and won against producer Vishesh Films in 2012. Chopra had accused Vishesh Films, run by Mukesh and Mahesh Bhatt, of denying him screenplay credit for the sequel to Jannat.
Some other cases have been settled out of court, such as Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Guzaarish. Its writer, Tabish Romani, filed a complaint with the FWA that he had been denied his story credit. He was paid Rs 3 lakh by Bhansali’s production company. Another case that is being dragged through the courts involve Abhishek Kapoor, the director of Rock On!, and the writer and producer of its sequel. Kapoor claims that he has not been credited for his contributions to Rock On 2, which will be made by another director. Its writer, Pubali Chaudhuri, and producer Excel Films, claim that she was the one who developed the screenplay, which has been registered with the FWA.
A problem nearly as old as the industry
Disgruntlement has been a part of a writer’s quiver for nearly as long as the film industry has been around. The Coen brothers’ masterpiece, Barton Fink, remains one of the best expositions of an idealistic writer’s encounters with the Hollywood machinery.
Veteran writer and director Vinay Shukla, who has such films as Viraasat, Godmother and Mirch to his credit, pointed out that the inferior position accorded to writers in Hindi cinema has much to do with the separation of roles between the person writing the screenplay and the dialogue. This confusing demarcation continues till date, where one person writes the screenplay, which details the shot breakdown and character development, among other things, and another enhances the screenplay with sharp, audience-friendly dialogue.
“If we look at the situation from a historical perspective, the writer was considered a munshi [scribe],” said Shukla, who is a former FWA president and a current member. “Barring a few writes and producers, the writer was more or less working on a concept that had been given by the filmmakers.” The term that was in vogue in the film industry until very recently was the “sitting”, Shukla pointed out. This referred to a session where the director, producer and hand-picked confidantes would be in attendance to decide the merits of a script by committee.
Hindi cinema has produced its share of star writers, such as Abrar Alvi, Pandit Mukhram Sharma, Rahi Masoom Raza, Salim-Javed, Wajahat Ali Mirza and Sachin Bhowmick, but by and large, writers have been a “subservient commodity”, Shukla observed. “Writers somehow did not have an individual identity, but the situation started changing in the 1990s, when a younger crop of writers came in and started demanding recognition.”
It is no coincidence that the decade of liberalisation has proved to be liberating for some writers – this is the period when the popular Hindi film template underwent several changes. New star names appeared on the marquee; old themes got tweaked to suit shifting tastes and attitudes; subjects that would have been considered alternative a few years ago entered the mainstream. Yet, the desire to change the way movies were being told didn’t change the way they had been made for decades: writers were still relegated to second-rung status; payments and development fees (crucial if a production is delayed) were still being delayed, and credit and copyright were still being held back.
Apart from directors who write their own material, even producers are banging away on their keyboards, tempted by the royalties for original work that is promised by the Copyright Amendment Bill, said Kamlesh Pandey. Satellite television channels and film studios are developing teams of in-house writers who might have little or no negotiation power over copyright or payment. For every writer who files a complaint or a court case, there are several others who don’t dare raise their voices because they worry about being blacklisted.
“We are the most envied people in the industry because the real star of the film is the writer,” Pandey said. Nowhere has this belief been truer than in 2015, in which a series of script-backed films, including NH10, Piku, Dum Laga Ke Haisha and Bajrangi Bhaijaan, have proved to be a hit with audiences.
“With so many corporations in the movie business, there is bound to be greater accountability,” said filmmaker Rohan Sippy. “It’s a good practice for the industry, and it is most necessary if the industry wants to really grow up.”
Limited-time offer: Big stories, small price. Keep independent media alive. Become a Scroll member today!
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!