New Delhi, February 17
Union Human Resources Development Minister Kapil Sibal today came out in support of actor Aamir Khan, who resigned yesterday from the membership of the central panel constituted to look at the proposed amendments to the 53-year-old Copyright Act.
Aamir resigned after sharp differences of opinion on the issue of royalty sharing with lyricist Javed Akhtar, who went public with the matter, which was reported widely in the press.
Regretting that Aamir had to resign, Sibal said the actor was correct from his point of view. He added that issues discussed in the meeting of the central panel held on Sunday in Mumbai (where the Javed-Aamir spat happened) should not have gone public.
“It was for the resolution of differences that the meeting was called and the panel constituted,” Sibal said. The meeting of the 10-member panel comprising film producers, lyricists and script writers, will happen again on February 28.
For his part, Aamir opted out of the panel for being allegedly attacked by some people. “It seems to me that there is an attempt by certain people to attack me in public by printing lies about me, thereby turning the attention away from a genuine debate about copyright issues,” Aamir wrote in a letter to Sibal.
He added that he had a lot to contribute to the ongoing debate on copyright amendments but could not make any meaningful contribution in this (vitiated) atmosphere.
Aamir reportedly had heated exchanges with lyricist Javed and others over the issue of royalties. While Aamir is learnt to have opined that a song gets its popularity from the star who is featured in the video, Javed reminded the actor of the instant fame which the all-time hit “papa kehtein hain” brought him when he was not a superstar.
For his part, Sibal has made it clear that while certain issues on royalty sharing can be resolved by the central panel, the amendments, cleared by the cabinet, will be sent to Parliament which in turn can refer it to the standing committee. The latter could look at issues of contention and make recommendations accordingly. The panel also includes Javed Akhtar, Boney Kapoor, Mukesh Bhatt, Vishal Bharadwaj, Vishal Dadlani, Prasoon Joshi, Anjum Rajabli, Madhu Manthena and Bhushan Kumar.
