Javed Akhtar recalls Yash Chopra, ‘messiah of the poor’ Mahesh Bhatt opposing Copyright Act aimed at ending exploitation of creatives; says producers boycotted him

“Music directors came to my house and said, ‘We are being badly exploited. They give us unfair contracts, and we want you to become IPRS chairman,'” Javed recalled. After taking on the role, Javed Akhtar began to understand the depth of exploitation faced by creative professionals. He realised that the only way to bring about real change was to amend the country’s law. “I realised that no music director or writer dared to stand up against the music companies and producers alone because they would ban them. The only solution was to change the law of the country,” he said.

“With this idea, I went to Delhi and looked at my good luck. During this time, they nominated me to the Rajya Sabha, so my access was unbelievable,” he said.

Akhtar also recalled meeting political leaders from both the then-ruling Congress party — PM Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi — and the Opposition BJP — Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj — to get the bill passed in both houses of the Parliament. He ultimately managed to gain the support of both sides. He recalled, “Mrs Gandhi reacted so strongly. Her face was red when she read the contract that the music companies were making music composers and singers sign. She told me to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.” Javed shared that all the political leaders whom he met agreed to help him, irrespective of the party they belonged to. “It was the most blatant exploitation,” Javed said.

While Javed was working to secure the rights of creative professionals, he did face hurdles, and filmmakers like Yash Chopra and Mahesh Bhatt were among those who opposed him. Recalling the same, he said, “Some very big stars and producer-filmmakers were meeting people and opposing the bill. I will take their name – Yash Chopra and Mahesh Bhatt.” Taking a jibe at Mahesh Bhatt, Javed said, “Mahesh Bhatt is the ‘messiah of the poor’ from that side… because ‘poor producers’ needed his help. When I met him at the airport, he said, ‘We have come to oppose your bill.’ I told him he had all the right. I even offered to help him with appointments with the political leaders.”

Javed Akhtar didn’t just face opposition from Mahesh Bhatt and Yash Chopra; many in the film industry even boycotted him and refused to work with him. “There was a meeting where many producers, for some of whom I have written blockbuster films, passed a resolution that I should be boycotted. Then somebody told them that it was illegal to boycott somebody; they aren’t very educated people anyway. Then they changed their stance and decided to suggest to people not to work with me till this problem was resolved. I lost many productions; even today they aren’t working with me,” he said.

The Copyright (Amendment) Act, 2012, amended the original Copyright Act of 1957. It granted songwriters, artists and performers the lifelong right to claim royalties for their works. Parliament passed the act after noting that, under the existing law, the benefits of creative artistes were being appropriated by producers. The act recognised authors as the rightful owners of the copyright and stated that it could not be assigned to producers.

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