The 1997 war film, Border, is considered to be one of the best films of Bollywood and also Indian cinema. It made its writer-director J P Dutta into a household name overnight. The film made his life and also gave a boost to the careers of its actors like Sunny Deol, Suniel Shetty, Akshaye Khanna, Sudesh Berry, etc. However, for film financier Bharat Shah, the experience hasn’t been very positive. He had bankrolled the project and he claims that he is yet to get the profits that were promised to him. Moreover, his case has been going on in the Bombay High Court since 2012. However, the Honourable Court has failed to pass a timely order in this case.
In last week’s issue of Complete Cinema magazine, Bharat Shah and his wife, Bina Bharat Shah, trustees of Bharat Shah Family Trust, through their advocate, M/s Little & Co, gave a public notice about this ongoing case. As per this notice, J P Dutta had approached Bharat Shah on November 21, 1994, to finance Border.
As per a Deed of Settlement signed by both the parties, it was agreed that the sale of profits made by the film through theatrical or any other means would be shared in the ratio of 50:50 between J P Dutta and Bharat Shah. According to the notice, J P Dutta has breached the terms of the Deed of Settlement and has refused to share the profit sales with Bharat Shah. As a result, the film financier moved the Bombay High Court in 2012.
The public notice ends cautioning anyone who is planning to enter into any deal with J P Dutta regarding the exploitation of the rights of Border. As per the notice, one should conduct such dealings at his/her/their own risk since the matter is pending in the Bombay High Court.
When contacted by Bollywood Hungama, Bharat Shah said, “J P Dutta has not given us the all-India overflow. When the rights of the film were told to Sony, I was given my share. Also, I got the proceeds from the Bombay circuit. But later, I didn’t get anything.”
Bharat Shah then confirms that the case filed in 2012 is still going on, “India mein toh aisa hi chalta hai na. Taarekh pe taarekh aati rehti hai.” He continued, “And in India, civil cases take forever. Now, Covid-19 has further delayed matters. The court hasn’t given a stay and hence, those who bought the rights from J P Dutta are freely playing the film.”
When asked what made him give the notice, Bharat Shah replied, “We gave the notice because we heard that he’s going to sell the rights. So in order to warn them, we gave the notice, taaki kal koi yeh na bole ki humko inform nahi kiya tha.”
This controversy first came to light in 2012 when Bharat Shah sued J P Dutta. At that time, he had told the media that he had met and even called J P Dutta but the filmmaker turned a blind eye to his plea. Moreover, Bharat has also filed a case with the Association of Motion Pictures & TV Programme Producers (AMTPP) before moving the Court.
In 2016, when J P Dutta had announced that he’ll make sequels of Border, Bharat Shah had told Bollywood Hungama, “Border that released in 1997 went on to become a super hit and Dutta was supposed to share a part of the profits made from the film with us. However, he has refused to honour this and continues to turn a blind eye on the case."
He had also added, “We have the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) of the film (Border) and have filed a suit against Dutta in the Bombay High Court in respect of this.”
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