Legal storm hits J P Dutta’s Border: Sunny Deol's war film embroiled in dispute; Bharat Shah issues public notice

The announcement video of Border 2, featuring the voiceover Sunny Deol, was well received. If that was not enough, the excitement for the war drama grew with the addition of Diljit Dosanjh and Varun Dhawan in the lead cast. But it seems like Border 2 might face rough weather. A case filed by Bharat Shah on the first part of the film is going on in court. The popular film financier reminded the public about it by issuing a notice in Complete Cinema magazine’s issue dated September 7-14, 2024.

The public notice was issued by advocate Ajay Khatlawala, Senior Partner at Little & Co. It states that their clients, Bharat Shah and Bina Bharat Shah, are the world rights controllers of Borderand that they entered into agreement with the film's director and producer J P Duta on November 21, 1994, to finance the war film.

The notice further stated that since differences and disputes arose between the two parties, a Deed of Settlement was executed wherein it was agreed that the revenue generated by the film will be shared between them in the ratio of 50:50. Another condition in the Deed was that J P Dutta would regularly keep Bharat Shah posted about how the film was doing financially.

The notice then revealed that according to Bharat Shah and Bina Bharat Shah, J P Dutta breached the terms of the Deed. The latter neither informed the financier about the film's financials nor paid the profits to him.

Hence, Bharat Shah and Bina Bharat Shah filed a complaint against J P Dutta in Indian Film & TV Producers' Council. In 2014, they even knocked on the doors of the Bombay High Court. The case has now been transferred to a civil court and is sub-judice.

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 civil court.

In December 2021, Bollywood Hungama spoke exclusively to Bharat Shah on this matter. Then, he 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.”

This was also a time when he had filed a notice in Complete Cinema magazine. 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.”

Also Read: 27 years of Border: J P Dutta reminisces, “Actors spent months on locations with no amenities, forget luxury hotels”

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