US studio 20th Century Fox is seeking damages and an injunction against the release of a Hindi-language film in the latest plagiarism row between Hollywood and Bollywood, a report said Monday. Fox has submitted a claim at the Bombay High Court for 70 million rupees (1.4 million dollars) against BR Films over "Banda Yeh Bindaas Hai," which Fox says is an illegal remake of the 1992 film "My Cousin Vinny."
The US company said BR Films had been given permission to make a film based on the idea of the Oscar-winning movie but that rights for a Hindi-language remake had not been approved, the Press Trust of India news agency said.
A study of the script found it to be a "substantial reproduction" of the US film and the storyline was identical, the report said. BR Films denies the allegations, contending "Banda Yeh Bindaas Hai" ("This Guy is Fearless") was an original film, using different characters and settings.
Last month, Warner Bros. put its Bollywood counterparts on notice that they would sue for breach of copyright if the hit film "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" was remade here. The company, which owns the copyright to the Harry Potter movie franchise, last year took the producers of Indian film "Hari Puttar: A Comedy of Terrors" to court, arguing that its name was too similar. The case was dismissed at a hearing in September.