Producer Vashu Bhagnani on Friday alleged that filmmaker David Dhawan and Ramesh Taurani reused the song Chunari Chunari from the 1999 film Biwi No.1 without informing him for the upcoming film Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai, starring Varun Dhawan, Mrunal Thakur and Pooja Hegde.
Speaking to reporters, Bhagnani also claimed that he suffered financial losses due to the remake of Coolie No. 1 and added that neither David Dhawan nor Varun Dhawan reached out to him regarding the fallout.
“I told David ji that I want to make Biwi No 1 sequel. We suffered a loss of around Rs. 27 crores in Coolie No 1 (2020). I was just a namesake producer. It was David ji who 100 per cent handled the production and expenses. I paid David ji big money to make that film; almost Rs. 70 crore, which was not even his worth,” Bhagnani said, as per Indian Express.
“It was the time of COVID and David ji told me, ‘Aapka jo bhi nuksaan hua hai, we’ll take care of in future. Let’s start Biwi No 1.’ Accordingly, we worked on Biwi No 1 for six months. One day, Rohit Dhawan told me that the script is not ready. Since its creative work, I decided not to hurry. Aaram se picture banate hai,” he added.
Bhagnani said he later confronted David Dhawan over the use of Chunari Chunari in Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai.
“Three months later, I learned that Ramesh Taurani and David Dhawan had joined hands to make a film. I felt a little bad, but then I realised that I can’t stop them. One year later, I saw ‘Chunari Chunari’ was a part of that film. I called David Dhawan and asked them, ‘How can you do this?’” he said.
Bhagnani further alleged that the song was used without proper consent from his production house.
“We sold the audio rights of Biwi No 1 to Tips at the time of release. Wog log badmaashi karke video chala rahe the. They were not even ready to meet us over this issue. We shared a letter in the court, due to which the court granted us status quo. How can David Dhawan use the same songs from our film in his son’s movie, that too for a Ramesh Taurani production? There should be some ethics in the industry”.
“I suffered a loss of Rs. 27 crores in Coolie No 1. Varun never even bothered to check ki uncle ka nuksaan hua hai; kaun poora karega?” he said.