Sharahbeel steals from A R Rahman?

Bombay dreams in contro­versy before its premie­re on Januar­y 27.

KARACHI: After the success of Moulin Rouge in April 2010, Center Stage Productions under the patronage of Shah Sharabeel has embarked upon yet another play, this time launching the comeback of Bombay Dreams which starts January 27. Besides Moulin Rouge, Shah Sharabeel has also produced other successful theatrical ventures including Phantom of the Opera, You only Marry twice and Tom Dick and Harry.

Bombay Dreams was originally a Bollywood themed musical  which used A R Rahman’s music, Don Black’s lyrics, Meera Syal and Thomas Meehan’s book that finally culminated into a full fledged musical with Andrew Lloyd Webber as the producer. The London production of the musical opened in 2002 and ran for two years straight, then in 2004, the musical was given international recognition when it was staged on Broadway.

However, now Shah Sharabeel has decided to wear the director’s hat and is all set to bring the musical to Karachi using the songs of the original play as displayed on the billboard advertisements boasting slogans that read, “Directed by Shah Sharabeel and music by A R Rahman.” While many remain impressed at how Sharahbeel managed to get an Oscar winning musician like Rahman for a local adaptation of the play, Sharahbeel confesses that he has not even contacted Rahman or taken permission to use his music.

“Well, A R Rahman gave the music for the original production of Bombay Dreams that took place years back in London so that’s why I am using his name. If for example I am screening Sholay in Pakistan and I market it as Shah Sharabeel presents Sholay in Pakistan , there is nothing wrong with it,“ said Sharabeel while talking to The Express Tribune.

It is important to note that this still does not change the fact that the organisers of the play are using or have used A R Rahman’s name and stardom to promote their play. “Pakistan is a third world country ,probably like Uganda to A R Rahman , why would he  even care that he is being given credit or not  for a play that is being produced in Pakistan, “  commented Sharabeel.

Despite the fact that plays like Moulin Rouge have been a commercial success in Karachi with tickets priced at Rs1,000 each  and ran for an entire month, Sharabeel believes that he does not require permission. “It  is of no significance as this is not a commercial venture” he added.

“No this is not a commercial play at all. We do collect some profit but to get a proper return we would have to charge a ticket of around Rs5,000. I do theatre for the love of it and picking out such minor issues from a play in Pakistan is just very narrow minded thinking, “ said Sharabeel while defending his stance.

The director then went on to shed light on the issue of using intellectual property without permission and said, “ I don’t mind if someone in a remote area like Sajawal performs my play without permission because it’ll just gather more people towards theatre and my plays.“

On the other hand, when asked that in this case it’s Rahman and the music of London Dreams which was a theatrical hit he finally replied saying, “You can take it as my tribute to A R Rahman and I didn’t find it to be  significant enough to take permission for using his sound track.“

However, much to our discontent billboards and advertisements in Karachi do not say anything about a tribute; everyone runs under the false illusion that A R Rahman has personally given music for this play. Intellectual property violation has been a common trend in Pakistan that has long marred our reputation but  taking from an Oscar winning singer is stretching it over the top and asking for trouble.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 26^th,  2011.