Chetan Bhagat's solution to the 3 Idiots row

In what could be a possible solution to the 3 Idiots row, the author of Five Point Someone, Chetan Bhagat has come out with a solution. Incidentally this comes just days after 3 Idiots director Raj Kumar Hirani had threatened him with a legal actiont. In an interview Hirani had said that Chetan Bhagat was bound by the contract after having sold the rights of his movie to producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra.

In his latest blog titled 'Moving to a solution' Chetan wrote “I just finished my last two interviews and these were the last interviews I"d give on this issue. There is no point going back and forth with allegations and assertions, and it only creates drama and no solution. Hence, I"d stick to simple facts, and I"ve even offered a compromise, that they may want to consider.

1. When you are saying 'based on a novel by" in a movie, you cannot have a separate original Story credit in the film – not to mention the latter upfront and the former at the end. 3 Idiots has a big front Story credit for Mr Hirani and Mr Joshi. This is just not possible as they are themselves saying the story is based on a novel. The Screenplay, definitely so, belongs to Mr Hirani and Mr. Joshi.

2. While they did fulfill the 'based on the novel by" credit as per contract, by claiming the story as original and claiming it as theirs alone, they have definitely negated and denied my due credit. Especially since the film has many commonalties with the book. They"ve adapted my story, not created a new one. That they"d claim the original story to someone else was never told to me, is not mentioned in the contract and is frankly just not possible under the basic 'moral rights of the author" under copyright law.

3. To the extent they have done this, all I merely ask is put my name as one of the writers in the 'Story" credit. They can keep their names above me, and make me the third writer of the story. The screenplay is theirs anyway.