SHORAB MERWANJI MODI Vs. MANSATA FILM DISTRIBUTORS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) There are two appeals before us from a common judgment of P. B. Mukharji, J., by which the learned Judge dismissed both of two applications which the parties had made before him against each other in a suit in which one of them is the plaintiff and the other the defendant. The applications were made in the following circumstances.

(2.) On the 21st December 1953, an agreement was entered into at Bombay between one Shorab Merwanji Modi, a cinema-actor and producer of films of that place, carrying on business under the name and style of Minerva Movietone and Mansata Film Distributors, a Calcutta firm carrying on the business of exhibiting and distributing films. By the agree-men, Modi appointed- the firm, distributors for the territories of 'C. P. and C. I. Circuits', in respect of three motion pictures going to be produced by him immediately after the production of a film called 'Jhansi-hi-Rani' had been completed. The appointment was for a period of seven years from the date of the delivery of the first censored print of each of the three pictures. Under the terms of the agreement, the distributors were to pay to the producer a certain sum in certain instalments and were to receive as their remuneration commission at certain rates. Clause 22 of the agreement provided that, in addition to other remedies, the producer would have the right to terminate the agreement summarily and forfeit all sums paid to him by the distributors in the case of breach or non-performance of any of the conditions or in the case of default in making the stipulated payments or submitting statements of accounts. Clause 28 of the agreement provided for the method by which the parties were to enforce their rights, if necessary. It said inter alia that if either party proceeded in a Court of Law, it must not do so at any place other than Bombay.

(3.) On the same day, another- agreement was entered into by and between the same parties about the distribution rights of the same films on precisely the same terms and conditions, except that the area covered by this agreement was 'the Bengal Circuit' and that the consideration to be paid to the producer was a different sum.