Pakistan asks firm to stop show using ‘Bachchan’s voice’
Pakistan’s telecom authority has asked a call-in entertainment company to stop running a quiz show for which they were allegedly using the copied voice of Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan, pending an inquiry.
The company, Telefun, charged callers 14 rupees per minute for taking part in the quiz show, making them believe that it was being hosted by Bacchan on the lines of his famous ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’ quiz show, according to Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).
“We have issued a showcause notice to the company and asked them to stop running the show until the probe is completed and they respond to our notice,” a PTA official said.
PTA said it had got several complaints about the show including from industry players and acted on them after holding a probe themselves.
The official said if the company was not able to satisfy PTA, its license would be cancelled and a fine will be imposed.
“Misinforming people and making them believe Amitabh Bacchan was hosting the show is a violation of their license agreement,” he said adding the firm had also been warned for not maintaining standard child control procedures for its call-in services including friendship services.
“Children were allowed to call in without any mechanism to confirm if they had done so with the consent of their elders. This again is a violation of their license agreement,” he said.
Bacchan is hugely popular in Pakistan and his quiz show on Star Plus had a big following in this country.
Telefun used billboards featuring Bachchan to promote their show and were also warned in August not to associate the national flag with the Indian star on the posters at the time of Independence Day, when the programme was launched. Industry souces said the company was using Bachchan’s name without any formal contract with the star, which was again a violation of their licence agreement with the telecom authority.
An official for the company said they would give their version soon.
“What I can say is that we have run the quiz show properly and paid out the cash prizes. We have not duped anyone,” the Telefun official claimed.
Though there is an official ban on exhibition on Indian films in Pakistani theatres, Indian film stars are household names in the country as the movies are freely available through mostly pirated VCDs and DVDs.
— PTI
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