The vacation bench of Bombay High Court on Thursday declined to stay the worldwide release of Hindi movie ‘Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai' over copyright controversy in relation to two songs in the movie.
Justice Farhan P Dubash refused to grant any urgent relief to Puja Films (now Puja Entertainment India Ltd) which moved the Court seeking to stall the release of the movie over use of the songs ‘Chunnari Chunnari’ and ‘Ishq Sona Hai.’
“This Court is not inclined to entertain the urgent application of Puja films which seeks reliefs against the said cinematographic film and the two songs,” the court said.
It then adjourned the case to be heard on June 8.
Puja Entertainment sued Tips Industries (also known as Tips Music Ltd) over the alleged unauthorised use and exploitation of the songs from the 1999 film ‘Biwi No.1’ in the upcoming film. It has sought damages of around ₹400 crore along with wide injunctive reliefs.
The urgent application by Puja Entertainment sought urgent orders of stay on the film and its promotional material featuring the two songs ahead of the film release of June 5.
Justice Dubash noted that Puja Entertainment had already filed a plea before a civil court in Bihar in April 2026 seeking similar reliefs in respect of the same film and songs.
On May 6, the court in Bihar had granted an ex-parte urgent ‘status quo’ order which was upheld by the Patna High Court. However, the order was stayed by the Supreme Court on May 22.
The judge recorded that while Puja Entertainment applied to withdraw the Bihar suit with liberty to approach the Bombay High Court, no orders had been passed on that application.
Tips argued that this amounted to forum shopping and there was no explanation for the delay in approaching the Bombay High Court despite knowing since November 2025 that the film was slated for a June 2026 release.
In this backdrop, the High Court concluded it was not inclined to entertain the plea seeking to restrain the release of the film and the two songs.
Advocate Neha Bhavsar appeared for Puja Entertainment.
Senior advocate Ravi Kadam with advocates Hiren Kamod, Rohan Kadam, Ayaz Bilawala and Dhanashree Gaikaiwari briefed by Bilawala & Co. appeared for Tips and its management.
Senior advocate Ashish Kamat with advocates Ameet Naik, Madhu Gadodia, Vivek Dwivedi, Jasmeet Kaur and Fatima Ali briefed by Anand & Naik Co. appeared for director David Dhawan.
[Read Order]