Kantara Plagiarism Row: Kerala High Court Stays FIR Against Actor Prithviraj Sukumaran

The Kerala High Court on Thursday stayed the FIR filed against Actor Prithviraj Sukumaran by Mathrubhumi Printing and Publishing Co. Ltd in connection with the alleged copyright infringement of the song "Varaharoopam" from Kannada movie “Kantara”.

The court observed that as a mere distributor of the film in Kerala, the actor was “unnecessarily being dragged into” and that initiating copyright infringement proceedings against him was “stretching it too far”.

A single bench of Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas was hearing a petition filed by the actor for quashing an FIR registered against him at the Kozhikode Town Police Station alleging that the song "Varaharoopam" from the movie “Kantara” has been plagiarised from the song "Navarasam”. The FIR was lodged on a private complaint filed by Mathrubhumi Printing and Publishing Co. Ltd against the actor as director of the company 'Pithviraj Productions Private Limited', which is a distributor of the film in the state of Kerala.

The court while granting a stay on the proceedings against the actor for a period of 7 days said:

“Prima facie, I am satisfied that petitioner as a distributor of a movie cannot be mulcted with infringement of a copyright merely for distributing a movie in one of the states in the country.”

Senior Advocate Joseph Kodianthara, appearing for the actor, informed the court that the petitioner was only a distributor of the film.

It was contended by the petitioner in his petition that he as a director of the Company 'Pithviraj Productions Private Limited', merely facilitated the distribution of the film in Kerala and was not involved in the production of the film or in the making of its music in any capacity. The petition also states that Prithviraj Productions Private Limited stopped distribution of the film on 04.11.2022. The role of his company as distributor of the film is limited to acting as an intermediary that distributes the films through theatres after obtaining distribution rights from the producer, the petition states.

The popular Malayalam actor was named as an accused in the case registered at Kozhikode Town Police Station for an offence alleged under Section 63 of the Copyright Act. The allegation of the complainant is that the song "Varaharoopam" from the movie “Kantara” song is an unauthorised copy of the "Navarasam" song which was exhibited in `KAPPA' T.V owned by Mathrubhumi and performed by the band Thaikkudam Bridge.

The Producer and Director of the film are the first and second accused in the case. The court had previously granted bail to both the Producer and Director on the specific condition that "the petitioners shall not exhibit the film `KANTARA' along with the music `VARAHAROOPAM' in the film till an interim order or final order after addressing infringement of copyright in this matter will be passed by a competent civil court.”. The specific bail condition that "Varaharoopam" song shouldn't be used was subsequently stayed by the Supreme Court.

The Petitioner is represented by Advocates Vijay V. Paul, Thomas J.Anakkallunkal, Chelson Chembarathy, Gokul Krishnan, Jayaraman S, Anupa Anna Jose Kandoth.

Case Title: Prithviraj Sukumaran V State of Kerala