Hari Puttar makers defend film

The makers of Bollywood's Hari Puttar - A Comedy Of Terrors have defended the film, saying it has nothing in common with Harry Potter.

Warner Bros is taking legal action against producers Mirchi Movies, based in Mumbai, India, over the film title.

The studio believes the name is too similar to that of the young wizard.

But Munish Purii, of Mirchi Movies, said: "Our film bears no resemblance to the Hollywood film Harry Potter and it is a completely different story."

He added: "Our film has been in the making for quite some time and everyone knew about it."

Release date

A spokesman for Warner Bros, which owns the rights to the boy wizard movies, confirmed the lawsuit against Mirchi Movies last week.

Hari Puttar, directed by Rajesh Bajaj and Lucky Kohli, is due to hit Indian movie screens on 12 September.

Two weeks ago, it was reported that the release date for the next Potter film - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - had been pushed back by eight months to July 2009.

Warner Bros said the decision had been taken in order to guarantee the studio a major summer blockbuster in 2009.

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Mirchi Movies
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