Supreme Court stays release of Zanjeer 2

It is well-known that on the 3rd of this month, the Bombay High Court had given its green signal to Amit Mehra’s remake of the 1973 Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bhaduri-starrer Zanjeer. Then, the officiating judge justice RD Dhanuka had allowed Amit’s production house, Adai Mehra Productions Ltd, to not only complete the film, but release it as well. The latest is that the Supreme Court has ordered a stay on the film’s release. The apex court has ordered the arbitrator to complete the arbitration proceedings expeditiously and positively within the next six weeks. The court order comes in the wake of Amit’s brothers, Sumeet and Puneet, approaching it against the HC order. It may be remembered that the remake of Prakash Mehra’s Zanjeer had run into trouble with his two brothers Sumeet and Puneet terminating the contract that gave Amit the remake rights in the first place. His siblings had alleged that Amit, who had bought the remake rights from them, had defaulted on payments amounting to crores of rupees. Acting on the complaint filed by Sumeet and Puneet, the Bombay HC had, on 27 March (2013), ordered that the trailer of Zanjeer 2 should not be aired until further notice. When the arbitrator upheld the termination of the contract, Amit had approached the Bombay HC.