Why Chetan Bhagat sold 3 Idiots book for Rs. 1 Lakh?
By Ria Sharma

Bollywood block buster 3 Idiots was laughing all the way to the bank till IIT graduate and popular author Chetan Bhagat pointed out that the producers had cheated him by denying him a mention in the film credits as a joint author. The Bhagat allegations so infuriated the producers that they launched an all out attack on him.

An uneasy peace between the two warring parties is in place after days of heated allegations and counter allegations reported by national media.

While the move producers have made more than Rs. 300 crore and counting,  Chetan was only paid Rs. 1 Lakh for the book and an ex gratia amount of Rs. 10 lakh.  Note that according to the legal agreement, it was purely on the Producers discretion to give this Rs. 10 lakh bonus. But Chetan Bhagat’s book sales jumped by as much as 20 percent.  His latest book also became No. 1 on India’s Best Sellers (Fiction) list. So, in that sense Chetan has had substantially more earnings since the controversy broke.

So, why did such a gifted writer like Chetan Bhagat sell his book ‘Five Point Someone’ for only Rs. 1 lakh? And sign a legal agreement which gave the movie producers “the rights to read, refer, interpret, adapt, title, create and produce the novel in any way or manner whatsoever….”.

Law expert Latha R Nair explains how a young Chetan Bhagat, in the possible absence of adequate legal advice, signed the agreement with the movie producer VCFL in 2005. This was well before he became a household name and so probably considered Rs. 1 lakh as good enough.  Latha wrote in SpicyIP that “Bhagat's first book, Five Point Someone, was published in 2004 and he signed the contract with VCFL in September 2005. His second book One Night At A Call Center based on which movie Hello was produced was published in October 2005. I don't believe that the contract to make Hello could have been entered into even before the book was published. So I disagree that he was not new to Bollywood contracts at the time of signing the 3 Idiots contract in September 2005.”

Bhagat was young and this was his first experience with the hard men of Bollywood. He was not a super star writer yet and so signed away his book Five Point Someone for Rs. 1 Lakh. His second book One Night At A Call Center was the one that catapulted him into the ranks of India’s leading writers. In theory,  the movie producers did not even have to give him the additional Rs. 10 lakh as the contract clearly says it depends on the ‘discretion of the producer’.

Needless to say, Bhagat will have a battery of lawyers the next time he goes to sign a Bollywood movie deal. Moral rights have to be backed up an iron clad legal contract.

(Techgoss had published the following on Jan 7, 2010)

Copyright lawyer back Chetan Bhagat
By Ria Sharma

Bollywood block buster 3 Idiots was laughing all the way to the bank till IIT Graduate and popular author Chetan Bhagat pointed out that the producers had cheated him by denying him a mention in the film credits as a joint author. The Chetan Bhagat allegations so infuriated the producers that they launched an all out attack on him.

Producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra and his team made public statements that Chetan Bhagat was paid Rs. 10 Lakh to adapt his book ‘Five Point Someone’ into a Bollywood script.  And that Chetan was publicity hungry and so was engaging in a public slanging match.

The highly regarded Chetan Bhagat made the point that just because one buys a book does not mean they can pass themselves as the authors of the book.  Chetan urged the movies’ hero Aamir Khan to read the book before commenting on the controversy.

Since then Chetan has blogged about how he no longer wants to pursue the media battle as he has made his point.  For some reason, Chetan also apologized to Aamir Khan and his fans.  Aamir Khan blogged how he would not be commenting on the issue as he wanted ‘time out’ to get a more balanced perspective on this issue. Was some kind of deal being worked out between Aamir and Chetan?

Today (Jan 7), one of India’s most respected IP and Copyright experts Shamnad Basheer has blogged about how Chetan has a strong legal case. 

“
Chetan Bhagat is legitimately entitled to be treated as a joint author of this script. Section 57 of the Indian copyright act deals with what are commonly termed as “moral rights” and vests every author with the right to insist that their works be attributed to them. And this right exists independent of the “economic” right to exploit the work. In other words, even if the economic rights are assigned away (as was the case here), the moral right of attribution continues to vest with the author.

Bhagat must therefore take a principled stand on this issue and pursue the matter without backing down, not just for himself, but for every small artist who end up getting a raw deal from crafty producers. It could end up cleansing some of the sharp practices that Bollywood has become culturally attuned to now.
“

While Chetan may be in the right morally and legally,  he has realized that in a polarized country like India,  taking on icons like Aamir Khan will result in alienating his fan base.  And this may result in fewer sales of future books as well as a Bollywood backlash. Many of the most successful writers in the world, just like brands Coke and Nike, avoid any major controversy for fear of alienating any group of people.

(Techgoss had published the following article on Jan 5, 2010)

3 Idiots: Mystery of Mtechsoft?
By Shalini Singh

Vidhu Vinod Chopra studied at the Film and Television Institute at Pune.  His first documentary 'An Encounter with Faces' was nominated for an Oscar. Vidhu has directed hits like Mission Kashmir and also produced Munna Bhai MBBS. Other films that he directed were Khamosh, 1942 - A Love Story, Kareeb, Mission Kashmir and Eklavya - The Royal Guard.

Vidhu’s latest movie 3 Idiots has been a spectacular success.

While Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s creativity is undisputed, he sometimes gets emotional and hot headed.  On Jan 3, he publicly apologized to Indian journalists after shouting at them to ‘shut up’ during a press conference about the movie 3 Idiots.  Indian super writer and IIT graduate Chetan Bhagat has accused Vidhu Vinod Chopra and his team of not giving him due credit for the movie plot line.  Vidhu Chopra had paid Rs. 10 lakh to Chetan to buy the rights of his book Five Point Someone.

One of the pillars of stability in Vidhu Chopra’s life is his elder brother Vir Chopra.  Vir worked to put his younger brother Vidhu through Film and Television College. And Vidhu has a close relationship with this elder brother Vir Chopra. Officially, Eklavya has been co-produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Vir Chopra and Anil Davda. Vidhu Vinod Chopra produced Mission Kashmir but his elder brother Vir Chopra is described as its creative producer. Vidhu Vinod Chopra produced 1942 Love Story but elder brother has been described as 'Presenter' of the movie.

So, is elder brother Vir Chopra in the movie business full-time?  This is where it gets very mysterious.

The trail starts when Chetan Bhagat blogged that Vidhu Vinod Chopra has assigned his elder brother Vir Chopra to ‘look after’ Chetan.  Vir Chopra sent the following email to Chetan Bhagat using the email address virchopra@mtechsoft.com

"
Noted. Thank you, Chetan.

Fans will be fans and all our mailboxes at this time are full of nothing but superlatives. Let us not only celebrate all aspects of creativity that went into the film but also learn from both our positives and negatives.

It was indeed good to meet you.

Best regards,

Vir K Chopra

(Ph.D. London School of Economics & Political Science)

Director

Vinod Chopra Films Pvt. Ltd.
"

In Vir’s email to Chetan, he describes himself as a Director of Vinod Chopra Films, but his name is not listed under the Team Section at younger brother Vinod Chopra films website. This is despite his name being listed in the creative credits of so many of his younger brother’s movies.

Vir’s email points to Mtechsoft.com which describes itself as a software consultancy and development company with its head office in New Delhi.  Mysteriously, Mtechsoft does not have Vir’s name (or for that matter anyone else’s name and phone number on the website).  In its media room, the last press release is from 2003.

Curiously, Vir Chopra’s LinkedIn profile describes him as the current Managing Director at MTech Software India. This profile makes no mention of his movie career.

Vir Chopra may want to keep his computing and movie careers totally separate and so his LinkedIN profile does not mention the credits he has been given for Indian movies.  But why does the Vinod Chopra films website not mention Vir’s name?

And why is Vir using his software house email to try to pacify Chetan Bhagat? After all he is a Director at Vinod Chopra Films which has a state of the art website and email system.

Only the tax authorities will have the true picture of what is going on.

(Techgoss had published the following story on Dec 31, 2009)

Chetan B: 3 Idiots unfair
By Shalini Singh

Chetan Bhagat is one of our hottest young writers. IIT trained, he gave up a successful career to pursue his love for writing.  Chetan’s book ‘One Night at the Call Center’ is a huge hit in our IT-ITES sectors.  His recent book ‘2 States’ has also been well received.

Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan stars in recently released ‘3 Idiots’ which is loosely based on Chetan Bhagat’s book ‘Five Point Someone’.  3 Idiots has been the most successful release this year having grossed Rs. 100 crore in the first week alone.

But it seems that the producers and management of the movie may have treated Chetan Bhagat as the fourth idiot by not giving him due credit for the film.  Aamir Khan has gone on Television claiming with a straight face that Chetan Bhagat told him the movie was not based on his book. During the same press conference, the producers said they had given Chetan Bhagat a bonus even before the movie was released.  

Chetan Bhagat blogged this morning about how he was treated unfairly by the makers of 3 Idiots

“
However, my family had not spotted my credit in the beginning (there was none) and they were feeling let down. A screenplay associate credit to VVC had a prominent upfront placement. The story credit was not shared with me. And yes, all the office talk of a ‘king treated like king’ was a white lie.

I knew they had played with me, and that ‘based on a novel by’ credit, which they were legally bound to give would be hushed away at the end – with the clear intention of making sure people miss it. And indeed, it came after the junior artists and still photographer of the movie, and zoomed away fast. My own mother missed seeing my name, and for that she cried after seeing the film. I told her it doesn’t matter, as people know FPS. But yes, that hurt me a lot.
“

Read Chetan Bhagat’s blog post to see his anger and frustration at being treated like the fourth idiot.