Phantom claims ownership of 'Gangaajal', Prakash Jha changes his film title to ‘Jai Gangaajal’

It was Manmohan Shetty who gave Prakash Jha his flat to stay in when he first came to Mumbai and did not have a roof on his head. Prakash Jha has since always had the highest respect and trust in Manmohan Shetty . Thus, when he made GangaaJal with Manmohan Shetty's company Entertainment One India Limited in 2003, he did not worry about the rights to the film as he knew there was only Manmohan Shetty on the other side. Prakash Jha had after all written and directed GangaaJal and was solely the man associated with the film from a public point of view. Prakash Jha has recently concluded shooting GangaaJal 2, a film he announced over a year ago with Priyanka Chopra in the lead, but just when he is now getting ready for release, Reliance Big Entertainment Pvt Ltd, along with Phantom Films Pvt Ltd, have claimed ownership of GangaaJal as Manmohan Shetty's company had sold all its rights to Reliance, who has further tied up with Phantom for their films. The legal notice (a copy of which is with us) has made Prakash Jha change the title of his film to `Jai GangaaJal'. Talking about his reasons, he said, “I am completely shocked on their claim that they own GangaaJal.

All these years that I have spent on writing and making GangaaJal and for all these years the film has remained in public domain, everyone would associate the film and the subject of GangaaJal with only me. The legal notice is quite unethical. I called them and said, `How can you use GangaaJal? You can't make GangaaJal with anyone else.' Manmohan Shetty backed GangaaJal and subsequently sold his company to Reliance. I still own 50% of the profits that still come to me against any revenue. Apart from my emotional attachment to the film, I still told them that I would be happy to acknowledge your credit in the title for the sake of associ ation and you showing your generosity in not creating legal hurdles for releas ing the film. But they were adamant that they also wanted a share of the profit. They have nothing to do with GangaaJal 2, have not invested in it in any way , so where is the question of any profit? Also the film is not a sequel as it does not take the earlier film for ward in any way . I have thus re-titled my film Jai GangaaJal. There was no objection raised past two years since my announcement of the film or dur ing the shooting of the same. But now, just when I have completed it and am ready for release, the notice has come only now. I will not let them take GangaaJal away from me.“ We spoke to Madhu Mantena from Phantom who chose not to comment.