Vipul Shah withdraws London Dreams from Shemaroo

After their alleged involvement in the alleged piracy of the master-copy of What's Your Raashee?, Shemaroo has suffered a big blow.

Vipul Shah, who was seriously negotiating the overseas distribution rights of London Dreams with Shemaroo, has withdrawn the negotiations and almost overnight given over the deal to Studio 18.

The deal happened days before the Shemaroo official accused of abetting piracy was released on bail. Says a source, "Shemaroo had apparently acquired the overseas distribution rights for London Dreams from Vipul Shah for a hefty advance sum. They're however, no longer distributing the film overseas."

A year back, Studio 18 was in negotiations for the distribution rights of London Dreams for a whopping Rs. 120 crores. But the deal fell through. Now Shah is back with Studio 18 after the recent incident at Shemaroo.

Vipul chooses to play down the reason for his withdrawal from advanced negotiations with Shemaroo for London Dreams. "I was negotiating with Shemaroo. But the deal didn't come through. However, the piracy allegation is irrelevant. Shemaroo has expelled the man accused of piracy."

When asked if he ever thought that his withdrawal from Shemaroo at a time when the company's image has been dented would affect them, Vipul counters, "Why should I worry about that? We were under negotiation. We didn't come to a deal. We were even talking to Yash Raj. But I got the best deal from Studio 18. Shemaroo is a very respectable organization. I refuse to hold this one incident against him. They had distributed Singh Is Kinng and I was happy with them."

As for piracy, Vipul says, "After the Raashee incident the cops have clamped down on piracy. You won't see a single pirated DVD in Mumbai. Hopefully this is the beginning of the end for piracy."