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Video rights of the film 'Kaante' have become the bone of contention between producers, Sanjay Gupta and Pritish Nandy on the one hand, and their American counterpart, Raju Patel of Film Club, USA, on the other. Pritish Nandy Communications and White Feather Films have taken objection against the alleged negotiation made by Raju Patel of Film Club Limited, USA for selling the home video rights of 'Kaante' to T-series. A notice published by the two companies in the trade magazines, states that the picture, sound and track negatives of 'Kaante' are liable to be kept with Adlabs Films Limited. As per the notice, the movie is not to be distributed, exhibited or exploited by way of telecast or broadcast in the first year of its release. Pritish Nandy of PNC said, "We have learnt that Raju Patel's company has tried to sell the home video rights of the film to T- Series, which forced us to send out notices to alert other parties who are likely to deal with Film Club Limited and 'Kaante' Production."
When asked about the fact that Raju Patel was to get the overseas distribution rights of the film against the pending dues of White Feather Films, Nandy said, "Raju Patel has got the overseas rights of the film and nobody is questioning that issue. But he certainly does not have the right to unilaterally sell the home video rights of the film." However, Larry Mortoff, attorney for Film Club Limited, denied the charges against Raju Patel. "As per the contract signed between White Feather Films and Pritish Nandy, Raju Patel has the world-wide satellite and video rights. If Pritish Nandy has stated that this is incorrect, we will release public notices in the newspapers clarifying it."
The notice that Film Club is going to release in newspapers will state that the overseas theatrical rights, world-wide DVD/VHS and satellite rights have been given to FCL by Nandy and Gupta's company.
It may be recalled that the film took a lot of time in the making 'Kaante' which was first scheduled to be released in May 2002, but was delayed due to technical problems.
It was rumored even then that White Feather Films had not been able to pay Raju Patel the dues. As a result he refused to release the print. However, these media reports were rubbished after the two parties came to an amicable settlement over payments. Apparently, Raju Patel was asked to keep the overseas rights against the dues and 'Kaante' finally got a chance to see the light of day.
Meanwhile, Pritish Nandy has chosen Salman Khan to play the leading role in his forthcoming venture, the remake of 'Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam' of late Guru Dutt. Pritish says that Salman will play Guru Dutt's character Bhootnath, in the film. The rest of the cast and the director have not yet been identified. Nandy is also planning to produce another film with Sanjay Gupta. He is planning to finance Bengali movies too. Nandy has big plans to invest as much as Rs 25 crore in the next few months. The first venture will be Aparna Sen's 'Gaynar Baksho', it is learnt.
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