MUMBAI: India's Tata empire said Thursday it had joined other powerful corporate names in trying to stop the release of a song in a new Bollywood political thriller that blames them for exploiting the poor.
"Chakravyuh" (Vicious Circle), a film about Maoist rebels in eastern India, includes a musical number "Mehngai" (Inflation), about wealth inequality, with lyrics that target some of the country's best-known businesses.
"Be it Birla or Tata, Ambani or Bata, everyone has exploited the country to protect their own interests. It is with our blood that their engines run smoothly," read some of the lyrics.
Tata Sons, the main holding company of the sprawling Tata conglomerate, has joined the Birla and Bata groups in launching legal proceedings to remove the references to them which they consider defamatory.
The firm filed a lawsuit before the Delhi High Court which came up for hearing on Thursday, a company statement emailed to AFP said.
"We have filed the suit because the use of the word Tata in the song titled 'Mehngai' in the movie 'Chakravyuh' is defamatory. As owners of the Tata name and brand, Tata Sons are aggrieved by the defamation."
The judge deferred the next hearing until November 8 -- two weeks after the film's release.
Producer and director Prakash Jha said there was no intention of personal offence with the song, which has already passed India's censor board on the condition it features a disclaimer.
The disclaimer informs viewers that the named have been used symbolically as a reference to corporate India.
"We never meant to hurt anyone individually or any brand. I made it very clear, that's why I put the disclaimer as well, but they took it personally," he told AFP.
The India arm of shoemaker Bata has already filed a lawsuit in New Delhi objecting to the "offending" use of its name, but the case has been stayed.
"The movie raised the burning social issues like disparity in wealth," judges hearing the case said, adding that they did not find it defamatory "in the contextual setting", the Press Trust of India reported.
Members of the Birla family, one of India's oldest business clans, are also fighting for their reputation, filing a legal notice to Jha and taking the matter to the courts, the film-maker said.
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