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The move by executives at 20^th-Century Fox to launch a 70 million rupee (£940,000) lawsuit against Br Films, the producers of Banda Yeh Bindaas Hai (This Guy is Fearless), for remaking My Cousin Vinny (1992) without permission was the latest in an ongoing feud between Hollywood studios and their Bollywood counterparts.

The papers filed by Fox at India’s Bombay High Court stated that Br Films had been given permission to make a film based on the idea of the American film but that no rights for a Hindi-language remake had been agreed.   A study of the script, said the studio, showed it to be a ‘substantial reproduction’ of My Cousin Vinny with an identical storyline.   In addition to damages, the studio demanded an injunction against the release of the film.

 Br Films denied the charges, claiming that Banda Yeh Bindaas Hai was an original film with different characters and locations to the American film.

Bollywood had a history of illegally remaking Hollywood hits, making only minor charges to their plots, and Fox’s action followed a warning issued to Bollywood by Warners in April 2009 that any breach of copyright of their hit film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button would result in legal action. 

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