The Karnataka High Court has on June 25 [Thursday] briefly heard the appeal filed by actor Darshan Srinivas and his wife Vijayalakshmi Darshan, challenging the vacation of an interim injunction against release of Kannada film 'BOSS'.

When the matter was taken up by the single judge bench of Justice Pradeep Singh Yerur, Senior Counsel Vivek Subba Reddy appearing for Siri Productions [Producer] gave an oral undertaking that they would not release the movie until Tuesday [June 30]— providing a temporary reprieve to the celebrity duo.

“…We undertake not to release the movie until next Tuesday…”, the senior counsel for Siri informed the court. Accepting such oral undertaking, the court posted the matter for further hearing on June 30.

A Bengaluru court, through an interim order in March, had temporarily halted release of the film after actor Darshan moved a plea alleging that it draws inspiration from the ongoing Renukaswamy Murder case involving him.

The defendants in the suit are the director and producer of the movie, Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce (KFCC) and major social media platforms.

The movie was scheduled for release on April 14. The court, after granting an ad interim injunction in favour of Darshan on March 27, had posted the matter for May 2.

However, on May 2, trial court dismissed the stay application and vacated the ex-parte interim injunction.

In appeal before the High Court, Darshan submitted that the vacation of stay is vitiated by manifest legal infirmities.

The appeal argues that the interim injunction was vacated by prima facie observing that the suit was founded upon 'wild guessing/imaginations', while the trial court ignored the audio-visual evidence of 'thirteen parallels' and the 'Inspired by True Events' declaration in the film. The court also readily accepted the respondents' paper defence that the protagonist was a 'cricketer', though the teaser shows no cricket, the appeal further adds.

Darshan and his wife have hence alleged that the audio and visuals of the movie's teaser were portrayed in such a manner that any normal viewer would associate the teaser to the appellants' lives and the criminal case filed against Darshan.

The Actor has also cited five previous court injunctions in his favour including against media content on 'confidential information contained in the charge sheet', despite which media trials and defamatory content against him still continue to be circulated in various platforms. The movie release would irreparably tarnish the actor's reputation and violate his right to privacy as well a free and fair trial, the actor argues in the appeal before the High Court as well as the plaint before the trial court.

Most recently, the High Court had directed the Union Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (MIB) and the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY) to act upon a complaint against 'media trial' filed by Kannada Actor, calling it a 'trial by headlines'.

To recap, in the Renukaswamy murder case, the Kannada actor is accused of being involved in the killing of his 33-year-old 'fan' over sending obscene messages to actress Pavithra Gowda. Darshan had allegedly abducted the deceased from Chitradurga and had him tortured for three days in a shed in Bengaluru in June 2024. The deceased later succumbed to the abuse, with his body thrown out in a drain as per the police report.

Darshan and 16 others have been charged for offences punishable under Section 120B, (Conspiracy), 201 (destruction of evidence), 364 (Abduction/kidnapping), 302 (murder) and Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code. They were granted bail by the high court in December 2024, which was cancelled by the Supreme Court in August 2025.

Senior Counsel S. Shyam Sundar a/w Advocate Pratham N appeared for the appellants. Senior Counsel Vivek Subba Reddy appeared for the Respondents.

Case Title: MR. DARSHAN SRINIVAS & ANR v. SIRI PRODUCTIONS & ORS

Case No: MFA No. 4257/2026 (CPC)

Click Here To Read/Download Order