Channel War hots up: Has Colors filed a legal notice against Sunil "Gutthi" Grover?

This is turning out to be the creative battle of the year. Standing eyeball to eyeball with each other are Colors and stand up comedian Sunil Grover aka Gutthi from Comedy Nights with Kapil. Both are snorting and pawing the ground like two bulls getting into a bullfight. And it's quite likely it's going to be a no-holds-barred and bloody combat. Tellychakkar.com was the first to report that Sunil was exiting the highly rated show. What was meant to be a simple and regular parting on grounds of creative (some say pay packet) differences, has developed into a major skirmish. And Colors and Sunil who were once so close thanks to the skyrocketing popularity of Gutthi have now drifted apart. And it looks like there's very little chance of rapprochment between them. At stake is a very badly dressed, badly behaved, hypervenitlating, loudmouthed, ageing lady character that Sunil has honed as the comedy series has progressed on Colors over the last six months. Kapil might be making statements in the media hinting that he is keen on getting Sunil back in the fold, but the buzz is that Sunil is toiling hard to come up with his new show on a different channel (Star Plus, as per reports), and again, woo the audiences with an avatar strikingly similar to Gutthi (something which he did in Zee Rishtey awards which will air on 1 December). Concerned about this possibility, Colors earlier this week turned its canon on him and fired a public notice stating that usage of Gutthi the character by any other individual or person is illegal and anyone doing so will be dragged to court. Sunil, given his tough off-screen personality, nonchalantly responded in an interview with Tellychakkar that “Gutthi is no one’s property”. But what he did not say is that Comedy Nights with Kapil and its characters are something that Colors CEO Raj Nayak is very passionate about as he was very closely involved in developing it. The show had given its audiences a laughter injection which they seemed to be wanting more of, thus sending Colors' TVTs soaring. Sunil's sheer disregard and defiance of Colors' ownership of the character has apparently got the senior management seething. Something had to give: and it did on Friday. Unconfirmed reports are that the GEC has sent the comic star a legal notice, following up on its earlier public notice. Which probably means that it believes that Sunil is going ahead with another show on another rival channel. The legal notice - if it has been sent - could see Sunil being dragged to court and later even to the committee of the Cine & TV Artistes Association (CINTAA). A source reveal that the legal notice has indeed been sent. He adds: "The channel will take every step it can to protect a property it has developed and popularised. Remember, Comedy Nights with Kapil kicked new life into comedy in India, after Comedy Circus on Sony started getting tiresome and repetitive." We buzzed several spokespersons from Colors who issued an outright denial that it was going legal with Sunil. Nayak refused to comment. Sunil Grover, in spited of repeated attempts, stayed out of reach, as he was performing in another country. Was he playing the Gutthi character there too? Tellychakkar.com will keep a keen eye on the development!!!