'Rock On 2' credit row: HC rules in favour of Abhishek Kapoor

Filmmaker Abhishek Kapoor says that he is grateful to the Bombay High Court for asking Excel Entertainment to give him due credit for co-writing the story for "Rock On 2", which is the sequel of 2008 film "Rock On!!"

"I am grateful to the high court for recognising my contribution to the creation of this project. This is a victory for all creative people who have perhaps struggled for the right of recognition. I wish the film the very best," Kapoor said in a statement.

Kapoor, writer and director of "Rock On!!", had filed a case against Excel Entertainment, Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar at the Bombay High Court on March 18, this year when he learnt that he was not being given due credit for co-writing the story for the movie's sequel.

The court on Monday passed a judgment in favour of Kapoor, ruling that he should be given story credit for the movie.

Before filing the lawsuit at the Bombay High Court, the case was first presented to the Film Writers Association (FWA) who initially gave Kapoor a "Story By" credit based on the Dispute Settlement committee's review of the partial correspondence between him and co-writer Pubali Chaudhari.

Upon Chaudhari challenging the verdict, an appellate board altered the original "Story By" credit to a "Story Idea By" credit for Kapoor without any clear communication on the rationale behind the change of decision.

Seeing the lack of transparency in evaluation, Kapoor decided to appeal to the High Court.

As per the court, on every occasion and space where "Story By" is mentioned, his name has to be included.

Thus, in addition to opening credits, wherever credit for the story or screenplay writer appears, joint credit shall also be given to Kapoor.