Kantara Movie Song In Copyright Dispute : Kerala Court Restrains Playing Of "Varaha Roopam" In Theatres, Streaming Platforms

A Kerala Court has passed an order of temporary injunction to restrain the makers of Kannada super hit movie "Kantara" from using the song "Varaha Roopam" in theatres and streaming platforms.

The Principal District Court at Kozhikode passed the ad-interim order in a suit filed by Kerala based rock music band "Thaikkudam Bridge", which alleged that "Varaha Roopam" has been plagiarized from its song "Navarasam".

Advocate Satish Murthi, who appeared for Thaikkudam Bridge, told LiveLaw that the Court passed the order after recording prima facie satisfaction about the case of the plaintiff. The injunction order has been passed against Hombale Films, Rishab Shetty, Prithviraj Productions, the producer, director and Kerala distributor of film respectively. Further, streaming platforms like Amazon Music, Spotify, Wynk Music, JioSaavn have also been restrained from playing the song. The lawyer added that copyright notices will be served on YouTube as well for the take down of the song.

Mr.Murthi said that the music director of Kantara, Mr.Ajaneesh Loknath, has publicly admitted that he was inspired by "Navarasam" song. The plaintiff argued that the similarities between both the songs were not incidental or superficial but were substantial and hence, it was a case of conscious plagiarism resulting in the infringement of the rights guaranteed under the Copyright Act 1957. The detailed copy of the order is yet to be uploaded.

Story to be updated after the order is uploaded.