Defamation case against Goan film Director

Goa's commercially most successful and internationally acclaimed Konkani film 'Nachom-ia Kumpasar' has run into trouble. Two defamation cases have been filed against its Director Bardroy Barretto by legendary musician Chris Perry's son Glenn.

Glen has filed civil and defamation suits of Rs 1,000 crore for tarnishing his father's image in the film.

Hearing in the case in a Panaji court will begin from Friday.

While Perry's son Glenn, in his civil and defamation suits has accused Barretto of defaming his father in the film, Barretto insisted that the film was not a biopic about Perry, but a piece of fiction about the entangled and subsequently estranged lives of two Goan music who later moved to Mumbai.

"He (Barretto) made a movie about my father, defaming him. It is unacceptable. My father is an angel. My father is a wonderful man. My father worked tirelessly to earn his reputation. Everything in the movie is wrong, everything is false," Glenn Perry has maintained.

The twin defamation suits have been filed at the Court of the Judicial Magistrate First Class in Panaji in which Perry has claimed Rs 1,000 crore in damages.

Made with a modest budget of around Rs 3.5 crore, mostly collected from friends and well wishers, Bardroy Barretto's Nachom-ia Kumpasar won several awards including the National Award for best Konkani film and production design and was screened at several international film festivals globally.

The musical film's plot, though fictional as claimed by the director, mirrors to an extent the lives of two of the most well known music, Chris Perry and Lorna, who were a rage as team in Goa.

Perry, who died in 2002, is credited with lending jazz notes to Konkani music and Lorna is still known for her uninhibited voice.

The film, which stars Vijay Maurya and Palomi Ghosh, tells the story of two music, their passion for each other and their music in the swinging nightclub scenes of Mumbai of the 1960s, before their relationship as well as their musical pairing ends over a series of setbacks, which includes an affair between the two which goes foul. Goan music in the 1960s were a regular feature in the clubs of the metro city of that era.

The plot revolves around 20 songs composed by Perry, which are interspersed in the film.

When contacted Barretto said that he had not received notice from any court yet. He also said that the film was never made as a biopic.

"For me the songs are Perry's, the movie is not about him. It is not a biopic," Barretto told .

( With inputs from IANS )