3 Idiots book sells well
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.

Any such controversy is good for the bottom line of a movie.  While 3 Idiots is a great movie, such controversy got even more people to watch the film. According to one estimate, it has already made about 150 crores and could turn out to be one of the most profitable undertakings ever.

While Chetan only got Rs. 10 Lakhs for signing away his book rights, no one was quite sure how many more of his books sold as a result of the controversy. Tehelka, which won international acclaim for its brilliant sting operation to expose corruption in Defence deals, has done the maths. 

“
A star controversy, engineered to publicise a film, is commonplace Bollywood formula. Bhagat has turned this formula on its head. He has engineered a controversy around a film to publicise himself. Evidence of how effective his ploy is lies in the fact that book sales for Five Point Someone have jumped by 15 to 20 percent since the film’s release.
“

Commercially, it was a win win situation.

(Techgoss had published the following story 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.