Hrithik in the Krazzy4 song

Mumbai, April 10: Hrithik and Shah Rukh fans will get to see their thumping dance numbers in Krazzy4, but not before a not-so-famous composer taught a copyright lesson to a top Bollywood production house.

Ram Sampath, a composer of ad jingles, and producer Rakesh Roshan settled a dispute over the film’s music copyright out of court this evening, hours after Bombay High Court upheld the musician’s plea that two tunes were copies of an ad jingle composed by Sampath for Sony Ericsson.

The court restrained Rakesh Roshan, who heads the Filmkraft production house, from releasing the movie with the two songs — the title track and Break Free — and their remixed versions.

Sampath, 29, filed a petition last week alleging that Rakesh and his music director-brother Rajesh Roshan had “directly lifted” the 60-second music clip of I Love My Thump, a jingle he had created for a Sony Ericsson mobile phone ad. The commercial featured Hrithik, the son of Rakesh.

Sampath had demanded damages of Rs 2 crore from the Roshans as well as credit for the music. The Roshans have agreed to both, paving the way for the court to vacate the injunction on the film’s release with the songs.

The case could set a precedent in Bollywood, where music and story rip-offs are common. Rajesh Roshan himself had triggered a controversy in the eighties when Visva-Bharti had alleged that the tune for his song Chhookar Mere Manko from Yaraana was copied from a composition by Rabindranath Tagore. The story line of Krazzy4 is also said to bear striking similarity to the Hollywood comedy The Dream Team.

Sampath, who has created jingles for many ad films, said it was a landmark victory. “This will set the precedent for all copyright cases. The film will release tomorrow with all the four songs and due credit will be given to me. We decided to settle the matter because a lot of third parties would have been affected.”

Sanjay Tandon, former director-general of the Indian Performing Rights Society, said: “This case will certainly set a solid legal precedent. An ad jingle created for a TV commercial can only be used for the commercial and not for a film. Its use in a film or in cassettes and CDs or performances in hotels carry separate rights.” Tandon said the case would help Bollywood understand that copyright cannot be violated at will.

Justice D.G. Karnik listened to Sampath’s original jingle and the two songs used in Krazzy4 in his chamber yesterday evening. The film features the two songs as item numbers with Hrithik dancing to the title track Krazzy4, and Shah Rukh Khan jiving to Break Free. The film also features their remix versions.

“To my untrained ear, the music appeared to be similar,” Karnik said today.

The judge said the “catch phrase or the hook phrase” in the songs had been copied and ruled that Sampath had “prima facie” proved his allegations.