Harry Potter Hari Puttar and the Studio's Wrath

The Hari Puttar case brought one of India’s largest media companies into conflict with one of Hollywood’s major studios.   Mirchi Movies’ owners, Bennett & Coleman, were a privately owned company that published The Times of India and were valued at £13.5 billion.   Warners attempt to block the film’s release was based on their claim that its’ title was too close to the Harry Potter film series based on J. K. Rowling’s best-selling books.

 The Hindi-language children’s film Hari Puttar - A Comedy of Terrors was shot on the Yorkshire Dales in England in 2006 and 2007, and told the story of Hari Prasad Dhoonda, a 10-year-old Punjabi boy nicknamed Hari Puttar who moves to Britain with his family.   A microchip belonging to Hari’s father, Professor Dhoonda, who is working on a top-secret project for the Indian army, is hidden in the family home.   When Hari is accidentally left alone at home when his family goes on holiday, he must outwit a coupling of bungling thieves hired by underworld figure Kali Mirchi to steal the chip.  

 Munish Purii, the CEO of Mirchi Movies told The Times newspaper, ‘Personally, I cannot see any resemblance between the names.’   The name ‘Hari’ was a popular one in India and ‘Puttar’ meant ‘son’ in Punjabi.   The film itself bore more resemblance to the 1990 Macauley Culkin film Home Alone than to any Harry Potter film. [ADD]

 (source: http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/bollywood/article4608340.ece)

2008

India: 2008