'Krazzy 4' case settled out of court

Mumbai, April 10 (IANS) A plagiarism case pending at the Bombay High court, which had put a question mark on the worldwide release of Rakesh Roshan's 'Krazzy 4', has finally been settled out of court, and the film will be released Friday.

Advertisement jingle composer Ram Sampath had a fortnight ago filed a case against the movie's producer and his music director-brother Rajesh Roshan, alleging that they deliberately lifted his tunes, which he had composed for a television commercial and used these in the movie 'Krazzy 4'.

In his petition, Sampath said when he brought the matter to their knowledge, both the Roshans refused to acknowledge the fact. He reportedly asked damages worth Rs.20 million.

The court heard the case Wednesday and reserved its order till Thursday even as the much-hyped movie awaited release barely a few hours later all over the world.

The lawyers of the Roshans worked out a compromise formula Thursday in consultation with Sampath's lawyer and the matter was settled out of court.

Earlier, fearing that if the court stayed the release of the movie, it would entail not only a huge financial loss to him and his distributors but also put a blot on his prestige, Rakesh Roshan reportedly agreed to pay Rs.2 million per month to Sampath as interim relief if he withdrew the case.

When Sampath's lawyer refused the offer, Roshan reportedly raised the amount to Rs.2.50 million.

However, it is not yet known at what figure the final settlement was reached between the two parties.

The comic caper, starring Arshad Warsi, Irrfan Khan, Suresh Menon, Rajpal Yadav and Juhi Chawla, is Jaideep Sen's directorial debut,