'Shocked' Kumar Vishwas claims he had Ajitabh's nod to use Harivansh Rai Bachchan's poem

Last month Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Kumar Vishwas received a legal notice from actor Amitabh Bachchan. The notice charged Vishwas with "copyright infringement" for unauthorised use of a poem written by Bachchan's late father, the poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan, in a video. The actor also asked for an account of the revenue generated from the video.

Since then, Vishwas has deleted the video and promised to send across the Rs 32 he supposedly earned from it. "My office knows the details, but they have been instructed to send across the money to Mr Bachchan's office," Vishwas said, speaking with ETPanache from the US about the incident, which he claims was "shocking" for him.

'No response'


Harivansh Rai Bachchan (Image: BCCL/Sanjeev Rastogi)

It started with a program that Vishwas hosted for a news channel, paying tribute to 10 legendary Indian poets. "I shortlisted the poets and duly informed each of their families. We had also included Mr Harivansh Rai Bachchan in this list. We approached Mr [Amitabh] Bachchan but he didn't respond. I even tried to have him informed about the show through some mutual friends in the film industry, but got no response," Vishwas said.

He says he then went to the actor's younger brother, Ajitabh, who, while being supposedly pleased with the idea, asked the poet to inform "bhaisahab". According to Vishwas, the show was appreciated by the families of the poets, including Ajitabh.

Repeated emails and phone calls to Bachchan's team as well as Ajitabh for a comment went unanswered.

Once bitten…


Amitabh, Abhishek and Ajitabh Bachchan at the cremation of Teji Bachchan (Image: BCCL)

After the show was aired, Vishwas went on to create videos of the poems. This is the video over which Bachchan sent the AAP leader the notice. "I had sent Ajitabh the video over Whatsapp and he had responded with flowers, a thumbs up and a love sign," Vishwas said, stating that one member of the family was aware of the video being made.

Vishwas, however, refuted the copyright i n f r i ngement claim, saying the poet's name and photo appeared prominent ly at the start of the video. In contrast, he raised the subject of Bachchan famously reciting the poem 'Koshish karne walon ki kabhi haar nahi hoti' on a popular quiz show hosted by him. "This poem was by the late poet Sohanlal Dwivedi. He didn't mention who wrote it. This gave the impression that it was written by Harivansh Raiji. In fact, Mr Bachchan later had to clarify on Twitter that the poem is not by babuji [Harivansh Rai Bachchan]," Vishwas said.

Before concluding the conversation, Vishwas said, "I respect Mr Bachchan a lot and his wish is an order for me. I will never recite Harivansh Raiji's poetry again. He lives in my heart and that is enough."