Dead playwright’s wife says it was being staged sans her consentA copyright row over a play written by renowned Hindi writer Nirmal Verma has stalled the staging of two shows of Teen Ekant scheduled later this month at the National Centre of Performing Arts (NCPA).
Verma, the pioneer of the Nai Kahani Movement and a Jnanpith and Padma Bhushan awardee, died in October 2005. His wife, poet Gagan Gill, 49, is the sole copyright holder of his works. Recently while surfing the internet at her Delhi residence, Gill came across NCPA’s website that had listed two shows of her husband’s play, Teen Ekant, on November 28 and 29. “I was shocked to see the listings as nobody had taken my permission to stage my husband’s work,” she told DNA.
As per the Indian Copyright Act, the copyright of any literary work belongs to the author and subsists for 60 years after the author’s death with his/her legal heir. Any person wanting to use or reproduce the author’s work requires prior permission from the copyright holder.
Gill promptly shot off a letter to the NCPA pointing out that no permission had been sought from her and that the “brazen attempt to abuse the copyright” of such a renowned writer was “beyond her belief”.
The play, comprising three monologues: Dhoop ka ek Tukda, Dedh Inch Upar and Weekend, was being staged by the Bombay Theatre Company (BTC). Gill said that in April 2007, she had given her nod to the same group to hold two shows of the play. The group had paid Gill Rs10,000 for both the shows. “However, this time they didn’t even bother to take my permission,” she said.
Accusing Gill of wanting to extract money, actor Jagdish Rajpurohit of BTC said, “Nirmal Verma has fallen into the hands of a Shylock.” He said that on the basis of Gill’s 2007 permission, they had obtained the mandatory censor certificate for the play. “Hindi theatre works on a royalty of Rs50 and Rs100. How can we afford to pay Rs50,000 when there is no money in Hindi theatre? We wanted to pay respect to Vermaji and make his work accessible to more people. But now we have walked away from the project,” he added.
NCPA’s director sales and marketing, Deepak Bajaj, confirmed that NCPA is no longer hosting the show. “We are categorical that if there is no permission then we will not allow the show,” Bajaj said.
