'Throws Integrity Of Art To The Wolves': Orissa High Court Quashes List Of State Film Awardees Over Plagiarism & Uncredited Remakes

The Orissa High Court has nullified and set aside the list of awardees for the coveted 31st Odisha State Film Awards, 2019 on the ground that two films were found to be placed in the list in utter violation of the Odisha State Films Awards Rules. A Single Judge Bench of Dr. Justice Sanjeeb Kumar Panigrahi, after verifying the allegations, discovered the movies to be plagiarised and copied from films of other languages and thus, observed: “After ocular verification of the films, it appears that the two films, i.e., “KHUSI” & “GOLMAL LOVE” are heavily inspired from the alleged non-Odia films at least. Considering a comparison of the impugned films with the plot and scenes in the Korean film ‘HOPE’ and Punjabi film “CARRY ON JATTA”, it is clear that from the plethora of facts, circumstances and stated overlap that the impugned motion films are uncredited remakes of the aforementioned non-Odia films.” Brief Facts An advertisement was notified on the website of the Department of Odia Culture inviting applications for 31st Odisha State Film Awards, 2019 against 27 categories and 8th Odisha State Tele Awards, 2019 against 20 categories by 20.02.2021. Applications were accordingly submitted for the aforesaid categories and after due verification by jury, the final list of awardees was published. However, upon seeing the award list, the petitioner found various irregularities in the awards announced in 27 categories which were in apparent violation of Odisha State Film Award Rules, 2010. He alleged that many of the films that featured in the final award list were remakes of some films made in other languages, which should not have qualified for the nomination itself for lack of originality. Thus, he filed this writ petition challenging the same. Contentions of the Petitioner B.S. Sahoo, counsel for the petitioner contended that the terms and conditions mentioned in the aforesaid advertisement clearly requires that only the ‘original’ films/ serials/ telefilms made in Odia Language or Odia Tribal language will be considered for awards. It was also pointed out that Clause 3(b) of the Odisha State Film Award Rules, 2010 provides that the dubbed/ revised/ copied/ remake versions of films are ineligible for entry. However, it was alleged that in the impugned selection, the film "KHUSI", which was selected for awards in 5 categories, is a remake of a Korean film "HOPE" and the film "GOLMAL LOVE" is also plagiarized from a Punjabi film "CARRY ON JATTA". It was also argued that the awards given to films "KHUSI" and "GOLMAL LOVE" are also in violation of provisions of Copyright Act as the those are heavily plagiarized. Contentions of the Respondents Sailaza Nandan Das, Additional Standing Counsel for the State submitted that no rules have been violated in the selection of the awardees. It was also submitted that the jury didn’t know about the allegations of the petitioner against the film “KHUSI” and “GOLMAL LOVE”. In the course of the re-evaluation, as ordered by the Court, the jury took note of the fact that the nominations were supported by affidavits that the films were original. It was further submitted that the jury was satisfied with the content of the presentation and were not influenced by extraneous considerations. So, he argued, to level the allegation of plagiarism is in ‘poor taste’ and is without any basis. Further, he underlines that the applicants for entry of films 'KHUSI' and 'GOLMAL LOVE' to Odisha State Film Awards, 2019 had clearly mentioned in the entry forms that these two films are not dubbed version or an adaptation or remake of film made in any other language. Above all, it was argued that no award was given to the impugned films in the categories of story, screenplay or direction where plagiarized content could have been an issue. He pointed out that individual artists of both the films in five other categories were adjudged as the best in comparison to others in their respective fields and therefore, they cannot be denied of their merits. Court’s Observations After considering the contentions made by both the sides, Justice Panigrahi deemed it proper to watch the disputed movies himself. After watching the same, he constrained to note that both the movies, i.e. ‘KHUSHI’ and ‘GOLMAL LOVE’ were actually copied from Korean and Punjabi movies respectively. He expressed his deep disappointment over the manner of selection of these movies for the prestigious awards. “The manner in which the impugned films were considered and declared the winners of the prestigious Odia State Cine Awards is a matter of great embarrassment and concern for the Odia cinema and artiste community.” Further, he made multiple serious observations about plagiarism and uncredited remakes in the film-industry. “Throwing Integrity Of Art To Wolves” The Court disapproved the urge of filmmakers to...

'Throws Integrity Of Art To The Wolves': Orissa High Court Quashes List Of State Film Awardees Over Plagiarism & Uncredited Remakes

Jyoti Prakash Dutta

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