Kantara movie: Kerala High Court stays FIR against actor Prithviraj in Varaha Roopam copyright infringement case

The Kerala High Court on Thursday stayed the first information report (FIR) registered against actor Prithviraj Sukumaran in connection with the copyright infringement case over the song 'Varaha Roopam' in the Kannada movie Kantara [Prithviraj Sukumaran v State of Kerala]..Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas observed that Prithivraj was just a distributor of the movie and was unnecessarily being dragged into the copyright infringement case.Therefore, the Court ordered an interim stay of the FIR registered against the actor till February 22. .The Court was considering a petition filed by the actor for quashing the FIR registered against him at the Kozhikode Town Police Station on the allegation that, the song "Varaharoopam" from the movie "Kantara" has been plagiarised from the song "Navarasam" exhibited in 'KAPPA TV' owned by Mathrubhumi and performed by the band Thaikkudam Bridge".The actor was booked under Section 63 of the Copyright Act which criminalises copyright infringement. The FIR was lodged against the actor as he is the director of the company, Prithviraj Productions Private Limited, which is the distributor of the movie Kantara..The actor contended in his plea that as a director of Prithviraj Productions, he just facilitated the distribution of the film in Kerala and was not involved in the production of the film or in the making of the music in any capacity.The actor further contended that his role as a distributor of the film is limited to acting as an intermediary that distributes the films through theatres after obtaining distribution rights from the producer.It was also pointed out Prithviraj Productions stopped the distribution of the film on November 4, 2022.The actor was represented by Senior Advocate Joseph Kodianthara and advocates Vijay V Paul, Thomas S Anakkallunkal, Chelson Chembarathy, Gokul Krishnan R, Jayaraman S and Anupa Anna Jose Kandoth.The Kerala High Court had recently granted anticipatory bail to Rishab Shetty and Vijay Kiragandur, the director and producer respectively of Kantara, who were booked for copyright infringement over the song on a 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".