Close on the heels of "Ram Gopal Varma Kay Sholay" landing in a legal soup on allegations of plagiarism, the ace Bollywood director Varma's another film Nishabd, starring Amitabh Bachchan, ran into legal tangle Wednesday with a private film production firm moving the Delhi High Court for a ban on the release of the film.

Justice A.K. Sikri issued notices to Varma and his production house on a petition by by Kanungo Media Pvt Ltd seeking permanent injunction against 'Nishabd' with Bachchan in the lead role.

After hearing preliminary arguments, Justice Sikri also issued notices to R.G.V. Film Factory, Adlabs Films Ltd and Super Cassettes Ltd and asked them to file their replies by March 23 to the allegations of plagiarism in the petition.

The court incidentally had earlier stayed the release of Varma's "Ram Gopal Varma Kay Sholay" on a petition filed by Sascha Sippy, the director of the original Sholay producer Sippy Films, for using the names "Sholay" and "Gabbar Singh" in his film.

In its petition Kanungo Media Pvt Ltd of director Dinanath Jawhar Kanungo alleged that Varma had infringed his intellectual property rights over the name and title of its own film `Nisshabd' which had won many international awards.

Kanungo alleged that his "Nisshabd" was produced with the financial aid, released under the French government's "Fonds Sud Cinema" scheme in November 2002.

The Central Board of Film Certification too subsequently had cleared the name for the film in June 2005, said the petition.

The film has received best feature film award at Osian's Cinefan Festival, Asian Film in July 2005 and second prize at International Film Festival in Bangladesh in March 2006, besides "Coup De Coeur Guimet Award" at Vesoul International Festival of Asian Award.

The lead female role of the film bagged best actress award at the Osian's Cinefan Festival Asian Film in July 2005, Kanungo said.

It also participated in Pusan International Film Festival (2005), Bangkok International Film Festival (2006), Durban International Film Festival (2006), 8 Mami's International Film Festival, Mumbai(2006), Eco Vision Film Festival (Palermo, Italy), Golden Orange International Film Festival, Antalya, said the petitioner.