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Regular-article-logo Saturday, 20 April 2024

Poser over penalty

The song 'Jabra' was used in the promotional trailers but was nowhere in the film

Our Correspondent Published 25.02.20, 10:56 AM
Shah Rukh Khan in Fan

Shah Rukh Khan in Fan Still from the film

The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission recently directed Yash Raj Films to pay a compensation of Rs 10,000 to a teacher in Maharashtra over exclusion of Jabra from Shah Rukh Khan’s 2016 film Fan.

Afreen Fatima Zaidi, a teacher in Maharashtra’s Aurangabad, had complained to the commission that she was disappointed how the song — which was recorded in at least seven languages — was used in the promotional trailers but was nowhere in the film.

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The commission ruled on her petition, saying this was an “unfair trade practice”. The commission further stated that when a producer shows the promos of a movie on various platforms and that includes a song, a person watching it would be justified in believing that the movie would have that song in it.

But what impact could such a ruling have on similar cases? Even more so because such a practice — of a song only used for “promotions” — is not new in Bollywood.

Nispal Singh of Surinder Films told The Telegraph: “If 1 crore people watch a film and ask for Rs 10,000 each, that’s a problem. We have to be very cautious about what we are doing. But I think the woman would meet people from YRF and come to a consensus. Maybe she is some Shah Rukh Khan fan who just did this.”

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