They don't like 'Hari Puttar' in India

No, not Harry Potter – he's still a star. But in India it's been thumbs down everywhere for Hari Puttar, according to a piece in Sunday's Guardian.

Bollywood blockbuster "Hari Puttar: A Comedy of Terrors" opened in 200 cinemas across India on Friday, despite an attempt by Warner Brothers' legal team to persuade Indian courts to block it, claiming that it infringed intellectual property rights and "unfairly sought to confuse consumers and benefit from the well-known and well-loved Harry Potter brand" created by British author J.K. Rowling.

But Judge Reva Khetrapal of the High Court in Delhi disagreed. The kind of educated person at whom the Harry Potter novels and films were aimed, she said, "must be taken to be astute enough to know the difference between a Harry Potter film and another titled Hari Puttar."'

Apparently the Judge was right, as the Guardian reported that Indian audiences and critics alike were unhappy with the film, whose plot appeared to be closer to that of "Home Alone."

"Hari Puttar: A Comedy of Terrors" is scheduled for release in the UK within the next few weeks.