The Delhi High Court on Monday allowed Bollywood director Ram Gopal Varma to release the remake of yesteryear’s blockbuster Sholay by changing the title of the film from Ram Gopal Varma Ki Sholay to Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag.

The High Court court gave green signal for the release of the much publicised film after Ram Gopal Varma filed an affidavit giving an undertaking that he would not use the title Sholay and the name of the popular characters like “Gabbar Singh” and “Basanti”.

The roadblocks for the release of the film in which superstar Amitabh Bachchan assumed the role of “Gabbar Singh” had come on a lawsuit filed by grandson of Sippy, who had produced Sholay.

Taking on record the affidavit in which Varma claimed that the story-line, character, music etc, did not match with G P Sippy’s Sholay, Justice Gita said the director can release his film under the title Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag.
The popular characters “Gabbar Singh” and “Basanti” has been renamed as “Babban Singh” and “Ghungroo”. The court also gave liberty to Sippy Films Pvt Ltd and Sholay Media and Entertainment Pvt Ltd, owned by Sascha Sippy and Shan Uttam Singh, “to push for its remaining claims, if any, after watching the film’s remake”. Sascha and Singh had filed the lawsuit to restrain Varma from releasing the film maintaining the use of the name Sholay by any other entity amounts to infringement of trade mark and copyright.

The High Court in an interim order in October last had stayed the release of Varma’s much hyped remake of the 1970s’ blockbuster Sholay. Sippy had contended that they also have copyright on the use of character “Gabbar Singh” which was played by late Amjad Khan in Sholay.

Sascha Sippy claimed that the late G P Sippy’s son Ajit Sippy reportedly sold the copyrights to Varma, had no such rights himself to transfer the same to others.