Court okays release of John Abraham starrer Aashayein

The Delhi High Court has rejected a plea by Anil Ambani's Reliance Big Entertainment (RBE) challenging the release of John Abraham starrer Hindi movie "Aashayein" because co-producers of the movie had allegedly changed the storyline of the movie.

RBE, which purchased the rights of the film, approached the court alleging the film's co-producers - Percept Ltd. and Super Cassette Industries - misrepresented facts and indulged in fraud, besides changing storyline from the previously agreed upon script while signing the distribution agreement.

Justice Manmohan Singh said that RBE should be compensated by the co-producers and asked them to deposit 30 percent of Rs.4 crore (Rs.40 million) paid by it for buying the film's rights and asked Percept Ltd and Super Cassette Industries to deposit the money within a week.

RBE had paid Percept and super cassettes around Rs.4 crore, out of the total deal value of Rs.18 crore (Rs.180 million) in June 2008 and entered into an agreement for theatrical, non-theatrical, world satellite, television and overseas home video rights.

In its petition, RBE submitted that as per their distribution agreement with the two co-producers, RBE was to pay Rs.18 crore for the rights of Nagesh Kukunoor-directed "Aashayein", which was supposed to be a commercial film, and was assured that the co-producers would not deviate from the storyline.

But when the complete film was shown to RBE in July 2008, it did not resemble the original storyline. It was not even a commercial film and character of John Abraham was changed from a compulsive gambler discovering fortunes of life to a cancer patient, it said.

However, Percept and Super Cassettes denied receiving any such communication from RBE after they were shown the movie.

The court said the film was complete and ready for release and it would be harmful for actors, investors and exhibitors if it stopped "Aashayein" at this stage.

John wanted to be left alone

Now that Nagesh Kukunoor’s Aashayein is all set to be released, newsy snippets have begun circulation.

One of them is about how John Abraham took the news of girlfriend’s Bipasha Basu kissing footballer Christiano Ronaldo on the sets. Forgotten the story? Here’s a quick flashback...

July 7: The seven wonders were announced in Lisbon with Bipasha and other dignitaries. The same day, John was in Pondicherry shooting for Aashayein.

July 8: The next day the media was flashing the Bipasha-Ronaldino photographs... and John requests to be moved to a hotel far away from the unit with no telephone and internet connection. He wants to be left alone.

July 9: John reports for shooting the a portion of the film. Now read on...

John is playing a gambler in Aashayein. John’s character in the film is that of someone who has lost everything in the biggest bet of his life. And he therefore, begins to question everything in his life – his relationships, fame, money... love and family. Ironically, for the whole week following the Bips-Ronaldo episode, John had to literally enact his personal trauma as the character he was playing – real merging with reel emotions.

Sarita Patil, head of production of Percept Picture Company, says, “The mood on the sets was sombre, as we were shooting some intense sequences with John. And he had already told us that he wanted to be on his own during this phase and had shifted to a far away hotel.” Adds Shailendra Singh, Jt. MD PPC, “Yes, John shot the most emotion-packed scenes of the movie while he was going through a personal crisis. However, he was extremely professional and gave an outstanding performance.”

And this is what Nagesh had to say, “John and I developed a good rapport while shooting at Pondicherry. I could sense that he was in a turmoil mentally. However, his personal problems never came in the way of his work.” The crew was shooting at a very remote location with 100-120 people and despite the turbulence in his personal life, John was on the sets at the right time everyday.

“I had not seen any of John’s previous films when I finalised him for Aashayein. But, in this film he will be seen in a completely new avatar,” adds Nagesh. One of the unit members told us, “Later, John told us how, while shooting some of the sequences in such a frame of mind, he realised the true meaning of Aashayein and life.”