Mumbai: Awar of words and a rash of legal claims have broken out over yet another television remake of the epic Mahabharat, a tried and much tested eyeball- grabbing technique of India’s highly competitive television channels.
Star Television Entertainment Ltd has filed an arbitration petition in the Bombay high court against production house Kaleidoscope Entertainment Pvt. Ltd, alleging the firm took an advance of Rs6 crore to produce a television programme based on the epic but hasn’t produced a single episode.
A senior executive from Kaleidoscope Entertainment, while not wanting to be identified, claimed that the show was supposed to be telecast in 1-hour parts, not the typical 30-minute episodes, and that at least seven parts had already been shot on a 20-acre set using film. Television serials are typically shot on tape, which is much cheaper.
“Nearly a year’s work has already gone into the project,” this executive said.
“In these tough economic times, most TV channels are facing cost pressures. This legal notice is Star’s way of pulling out of the show. Maybe it doesn’t want to go ahead with the Mahabharat project after all,” he added.
Star TV, a unit of News Corp., had commissioned the show in February. News Corp. publishes The Wall Street Journal. Mint has an exclusive content partnership in India with WSJ.
Kaleidoscope Entertainment is a film and television production company run by Bobby Bedi, who has also made films such as Bandit Queen, Fire and Maqbool.
The show contracted by Star TV is different from one based on the same epic that aired on upstart 9X channel but produced by Balaji Telefilms Pvt. Ltd. Star TV filed the petition on 17 December and is expected to pick an arbitrator next week. The court gave Kaleidoscope until 29 January to respond to the Star claim.
Uday Shankar, chief executive officer of Star India Pvt. Ltd, declined to comment citing the legal dispute.
Star TV committed itself to nearly 1,000 episodes of the show for its Star Plus channel, said a former Kaleidoscope employee who was associated with the project but left the firm three months ago. This employee said the firm used the advance to buy land in Morna, near Noida, outside Delhi, for a studio with full production facilities to shoot the show.
The Kaleidoscope executive, however, dismissed the former employee’s statements, saying that the purchase of land at Morna was unconnected to the case with Star TV.
Prior to filing its complaint, Star TV had sent a notice to Kaleidoscope in which it mentioned the alleged purchase of the land.
Until the hearing starts, the Bombay high court has restrained Kaleidoscope from selling, leasing or mortgaging, or in any way parting with the land.
Meanwhile, the Kaleidoscope executive’s assertion that the real dispute is an attempt to avoid funding the entire show because of an economic downturn is finding some resonance in general in the television world.
Speaking in general and not about this case, Dheeraj Kumar, chairman and managing director of the production house Creative Eye Pvt. Ltd, said that even though channels are not scrapping projects, many are seeking to delay shooting schedules and looking to reduce costs.
“We were supposed to begin the shooting of a mythological serial for a prominent channel in December, but have postponed the same until March when it’s a more opportune time,” said Kumar while declining to elaborate.
“Channels are waiting and watching and are unwilling to commit to new projects,” said BAG Films and Media Ltd managing director Anurradha Prasad.