Pakeezah has been raped: Tajdar Amrohi

Tajdar Amrohi is an angry man. Pakeezah, one of the landmark films in Indian film history, and a masterpiece made by his father, the legendary writer-director Kamal Amrohi, has been “raped” he says without mincing words. The reason for Tajdar’s outburst is the use of two songs from the film’s classic soundtrack, namely Inhi logon ne and Chalte chalte in the internationally acclaimed film East Is East, which was released in India last week.

According to Tajdar, prior to its release in India, East Is East was promoted heavily using the Pakeezah song Inhi logon ne. “I was aghast when I saw the promos of the film on various channels with Inhi logon ne being used in the background. What irked me was not so much the use of the song, but the dirty visuals accompanying the song, that of a couple smooching and a girl dancing with a broomstick. That was surely in bad taste.

Especially with a song and a film which is an epitome of Indian culture for 30 years now. Also, what worries me is that the present generation, who hasn’t seen Pakeezah, will think that Inhi logon ne belongs to East Is East,” explains Tajdar.

What baffled Tajdar was, how did the producers of the film, FilmFour, use the songs in their film without his permission, and without procuring the copyright, since the songs are the sole property of his father’s banner Mahal Pictures Pvt. Ltd. “After enquiries, FilmFour said that they had procured the rights from music company HMV,” informs Tajdar and adds, “How can HMV give the copyrights of film songs belonging to our banner?

According to my contract with HMV made in 1971, for a period of 10 years, the company has the rights to only manufacture records and tapes, and sell them, and pay our banner the royalty. They don’t have the right to sell the songs to a third party on a premium, which is what the music company has done. This is outrageous, and add to this the fact that HMV didn’t renew the contract with me, after it expired in 1981.”

What further affirms Tajdar’s belief that HMV is upto some hanky-panky is the fact that the music company has blacked out the premium figure in the copy of a statement faxed by the company to Tajdar. “What’s more, a DVD of the East Is East soundtrack has also been released, which has the two songs of Pakeezah on it. So what about the royalty here?,” asks Tajdar, “I don’t know why HMV blacked out the premium figure, making things all the more obvious. And why didn’t it inform us about the use of songs in East Is East?”

Perturbed by this, Tajdar filed a case in the City Civil Court in Mumbai for a stay on the release of East Is East, which he says was rejected for “different reasons.” But he will now file a suit for damages in the High Court next week. “I wanted the matter to be settled amicably,” says Tajdar, “And I went to HMV to sort out matters, not expecting any monetary settlement. But Harish Dayani and Rakesh Nigam of HMV were not at all repentent. Instead they said they had done the right thing.

They actually challenged me to go ahead. And I did just that.”
Tajdar avers that his fight is not so much for royalty, but to salvage the prestige of the film and bring to fore the infringement of copyright.

Harish Dayani of HMV, and Rakesh Nigam, copyright manager, HMV, were unavailable for their comments.

Salma Khatib