Bombay High Court Refuses Urgent Plea Against Release Of Varun Dhawan-Starrer 'Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai'

The Bombay High Court has recently declined to entertain an urgent plea seeking reliefs against the release of the Varun Dhawan starrer film "Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai" and two songs featured in it, observing that Puja Entertainment (India) Ltd. had already approached a court in Bihar seeking similar reliefs and had failed to satisfactorily explain why it had not secured permission to withdraw those proceedings.

Justice Farhan P. Dubash passed the order on June 3, two days before the film's scheduled release.

Puja Films, now known as Puja Entertainment (India) Ltd., had moved the court against Tips Industries and others over the film. The dispute centres on the songs "Chunnari Chunnari" and "Ishq Sona Hai", which form part of the movie.

During the hearing, the court noted that the production house had earlier filed a suit before a civil court in Katihar, Bihar, around April 27, seeking similar reliefs in relation to the same film and songs. The company had secured an ex parte status quo order there on May 6.

That order was subsequently challenged before the Patna High Court and later before the Supreme Court. On May 22, the Supreme Court stayed the trial court's order while proceedings continued before the Patna High Court.

The plaintiff later sought permission from the Bihar court to withdraw the suit and pursue appropriate proceedings before the Bombay High Court. However, although the application had been filed more than a week earlier, no orders had been passed on it.

The Court recorded that "no satisfactory explanation is also forthcoming" from the plaintiff's counsel as to why such permission had not been obtained.

Appearing for the defendants, Senior Advocate Ravi Kadam submitted that the film's release had been planned on a massive scale. According to him, about 1,900 cinemas and 3,000 screens had already been booked across India, while another 725 cinemas and 1,100 screens had been lined up in more than 70 countries overseas.

Kadam argued that these arrangements had been known to the plaintiff since at least November 2025. He contended that the plaintiff was "guilty of forum shopping" and had approached the Court after "undue and unexplained delay".

He urged the Court not to entertain the application while the Bihar proceedings remained pending. Senior Advocate Ashish Kamat, appearing for Defendant No. 7, supported those submissions.

Taking note of these circumstances, the Court said it was not inclined to entertain the urgent application seeking reliefs against the film and the two songs.

The matter will now be placed before the regular court on June 8.

For Puja Entertainment: Advocate Neha Bhavsar