'Tumbbad' director cautions first-time filmmakers about protecting intellectual property rights

New Delhi: Intellectual property rights and a first-timer’s fees are often treated as a joke in the Hindi film industry, says “Tumbbad” director Rahi Anil Barve, urging debutant filmmakers to be cautious while signing legal contracts with studios.

The director’s comments come days after he said he won’t return for the “Tumbbad” sequel, which was announced by the film’s lead star and producer Sohum Shah following its September 13 re-release.

“Tumbbad”, which was originally released in 2018, was Barve’s debut film which he wrote based on a story by Marathi writer Narayan Dharap, after a friend had told him about it in 1993.

“Be cautious when making your first film. In Bollywood, intellectual property rights (IPR) and first-timer’s fees are often treated as a joke in studio’s legal contracts.

“Many struggling artists, desperate to get their projects off the ground, fail to grasp the seriousness of these issues. Some can’t even afford a basic lawyer to help them understand the terms… Please be protective of your intellectual property rights before signing any contracts in the future,” the filmmaker wrote in an Instagram post on Tuesday night.

Barve, who is working on web series “Gulkanda Tales” and “Raktabramhand”, said many creators and artists he has worked with recently have faced the same situation, resulting in significant losses.

“In the short term, we are exploited for very little, but in the long run, we end up losing far more than we can afford,” he added. “Tumbbad” is a horror fantasy film, produced by Sohum Shah Films. Set in a Maharashtra village, the film explores Vinayak Rao’s (Shah) descent into greed and obsession as he seeks out a mythical treasure guarded by the malevolent entity Hastar.

In an interview with a digital portal on Tuesday, Shah addressed rumours of a fallout with Barve.

“There are no issues at all. We have been trying to make ‘Tumbbad 2’ for the longest time. We were not able to crack the script in the writing stage,” he said.