/> Producer-director Ravi Chopra had a relatively easy time acquiring the rights of the Joe Pesci starrer My Cousin Vinny and remake it with Govinda as Bandaa Yeh Bindaas Hai.

And David Dhawan after being pulled up for remaking Will Smith's Snitch as Partner without a by-your-leave has decided to remake The Wedding Crasher after getting proper permission.

But for debutant director Rajkumar Gupta getting the rights of an American pop song for his film Aamir was an nightmare comparable with what the film's protagonist goes through.

"From the time I heard Peggy Lee sing 'It's A Good Day' I wanted it as the preamble for Aamir. It so ably and ironically defines my protagonist's day and what it eventually does NOT turn to be, that I was just not willing to let it go."

Thus began the chase to get the song.

"Since Peggy Lee died in 2002 it wasn't easy. We finally tracked it down to the source The price quoted was far too much for our budget....We finally had to pay something around 8 lakh rupees.

Considering our film's budget was Rs 2 crores that was a fortune for us, specially since we weren't allowed to use the soug in our soundtrack, " says the nervous direrctor Rajkumar Gupta.

Incidentally Imtiaz Ali tried and failed in getting the rights for Katrina & The Waves 'Walking On Sunshine' for Jab We Met. The song was initially used in the promos and then dropped from the publicity campaign.

Fortunately for Rajkumar Gupta the rest of cast and crew including the debutant hero Rajeev Khandelwal co-operated to the fullest.

"There was no vanity van...in fact no room for vanity for Rajeev since we shot on the hot sweltering streets of Mumbai. He gave a hundred a percent of himself and now I'm planning another film with him."

The struggle to get Peggy Lee's song wasn't the only copyright crisis for Aamir.

"Halfway through the making someone informed us that Aamir looked suspiciously like Filipino director Neill dela Llana's Cavite. I died. We didn't want to take any chances.

We immediately got in touch with the makers of Cavite and told them what we were making and asked if we should proceed with our project or scrap it. They were gracious enough to give us an all-clear signal saying two works of art somewhere or the other are bound to resemble one another."

Gupta wiped his brow. "Imagine if a new director's first film got scrapped! I was sure I'd be in the clear because my script was ready a good two years before Cavite was released, " says the Hazaribagh-born director who assisted Anurag Kashyap on Black Friday and No Smoking before branching out to make the startling Aamir.

"So far the response has been more than what Rajeev and I had hoped for, " Gupta has his fingers crossed.

Incidentally the Aamir premiere on Thursday night could've been a bit of a wash-out.

"It started raining heavily in the evening. And also, the whole industry is currently in Bangkok attending IIFA. Fortunately those whose opinion matter including Sudhir Mishra and Rajat Kapoor were there.

And so were my parents who loved the film. My father wanted me to be a banker. I think he has now realized what I was cut out for, " smiles this remarkable racounteur who's all set to make another "intense drama" for UTV Spotboy.