If all goes per plan, the pornographic cartoon character Savita Bhabhi will soon be made into a film. In the meantime, its makers are taking legal action against Mastram producer Sunil Bohra over alleged copyright infringement.
Says a source, `In the film 'Mastram', there is a character called Savita, and her role shares many similarities with the 'Savita Bhabhi'. This is a clear case of copyright violation.`
Nitin Gupta, producer of the film, 'Savita Bhabhi', says, `The character of 'Savita Bhabhi' was created in 2002 in UK and soon after, the comic strip was banned in India. Yet it is a character that enjoys a huge fan following in India. We now own the rights to make a Hindi film based on Savita Bhabhi; we bagged the rights in December last year.`
Gupta recounts that Mastram's producer Sunil Bohra had called him earlier as he wished to own the rights to the character. `I told him that we didn't wish to do so. Yet he has chosen to go ahead and feature a character called Savita in his film. This is a violation of copyrights; we want him to take off this character from his film,` says Gupta.
He adds that the UK-based creators and copyright owners of 'Savita Bhabhi' (Media Farm Limited) have sent a legal notice regarding this to the Bohra brothers. `It has been sent on behalf of Media Farm Limited and my production house,` he says.
When contacted, Sunil Bohra said, `I have not received any legal notice as of now; if he wishes to send me one, I know how to handle it. This is just a publicity stunt, as I own the film title, Savita Bhabhi. In fact, I had it registered with IMPPA (Indian Motion Pictures Producers Association) more than two years ago. Savita is just a character in this film.`
