Kerala High Court Grants Liberty To Scriptwriter Alleging Plagiarism By Makers Of 'Neru' Film To Approach Civil Court

The Kerala High Court on Friday closed the plea moved by story and screenplay writer Deepu K. Unni, against the release of the Mohanlal-starrer Mollywood film, 'Neru'. 

Justice Devan Ramachandran today allowed the request made by the petitioner and granted him liberty to approach the competent civil court with appropriate suit or other remedy. 

"In the afore circumstances, the writ petition is closed with the afore requested liberty being reserved to the petitioners,"  the Court said, adding that it had not entered into the merits of any of the rival contentions. 

The petitioner alleged that it was his script that had been stolen by the makers and set to be released as 'Neru'. The petitioner sought directions to the Union Government, the State Government, CBFC and the State Police to stop the release of the film.

He submitted that he had approached popular director Jeethu Joseph and actor Adv. Santhi Priya, who were co-writers of the film, and discussed his script with them in the year 2021. He thus claimed that Joseph and Priya compelled him to hand over copies of his script to them stating that they need expert lawyers to help understand the Emotional Court Drama Sequence of his script.

The petitioner alleged that the aforementioned respondents had taken copies of his script on assuring the former that they would revert to him once they fixed the dates with popular Malayalam cine actor Mohanlal.

Unni however, alleged that Joseph and Priya, at the instance of the Executive Producer of 'Neru' Antony Pe Rumbavoor and Producer and Actor Mohanlal released the trailer of the movie 'Neru', with sequences that were exact replicas of his script, without informing him about the same or involving him in the making of the movie.

The movie had been released yesterday, following the High Court's refusal to grant the interim stay. 

The counsel for the petitioner informed the Court today that the petitioner had watched the movie, and was fortified in his claims that the movie was indeed a plagiarized version of his script. It is at this juncture that the petitioner sought to approach the appropriate civil court for remedy and sought liberty to do the same which was granted by the Court. 

The plea was moved through Advocates B.A. Aloor, Rebin Vincent Gralan, Haseeb Hassan M., Suchithra P.S., Krishnasankar D., and Ailin Elezabath Mathew.

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Ker) 757

Case Title: Deepu K. Unni v. Union of India & Ors. 

Case Number: W.P. (C) No. 41359 of 2023