Veer Film dialogue -'India should not be a Sone Ki chidiya but a Baaj'

Veer Film dialogue -'India should not be a Sone Ki chidiya but a Baaj' "VEER" (2010) produced by EROS INTERNATIONAL and script written and starred by SALMAN KHAN did not survive the test of the Box Office and bombed miserably. Its defeat in the Delhi High Court was rather self declared. At the time of its release author and TV host Pavan Choudary, had sued the producers of the film for using the expression he had coined, that India should not be a Sone Ki chidiya but a Baaj, and which he had frequently used in his discourse as a part of the dialogue of the film. While the context of use of the said dialogue was different, the expression was originally composed by Choudary and pithily encapsulates his argument that India should not make a vulgar display of its wealth and should be militarily strong and he claimed his copyright in it. When after watching a trailer which in its entirety was just based on his concept he objected to the same and sent a notice to the producers, they chose to ignore it. This did not deter Choudary and he mustered the courage to challenge the mighty EROS INTL and others and filed an infringement suit before the Delhi High Court. During the hearing the court did not prevent the theatrical release, as by the time the suit came up for hearing the film was about to release. The court had reserved the order after arguments, and now we are informed that on 20.04.2011 EROS had made a statement that they have removed the dialogue from all the commercial exploitations. Immediately, upon such statement Choudary withdrew his suit. Pavan Choudary said, "This suit was not about money, but about protecting my intellectual property. I am glad that wisdom struck them and they removed my dialogue from the film. Though the outcome of the case is in my favour, I would have been happier if they had done so immediately after my notice to them. Their high headed-ness forced me to file and pursue this case. My faith in Indian Legal System has been reinforced. I did what I believe in and what I preach and it worked for me. I regret that we (other side and I) had to fight it out in court for this outcome which I think could have been amicably resolved if they showed some respect to me. In the first court hearing itself we made it clear that my objective was not to squeeze money for use of my work in the film but for credit for authorship or having the dialogue removed from the film- and the latter was the result which finally came out". Also worth mentioning that the said dialogue was removed by the producers from the DVDs/Satellite release of the film in April 2010 itself. Share