Karnataka High Court lifts stay on release of Hindi film Maidaan

The Karnataka High Court on Thursday stayed a Mysore court order that had temporarily restrained the release of the Ajay Devgn starrer Hindi film ‘Maidaan' over allegations of plagiarism. .Justice SR Krishna Kumar issued notice on a writ petition by Boney Kapoor and stayed the order restraining the film's release..The Principal District and Sessions Court at Mysore had on Monday temporarily stayed the release of the film.This order was passed following a complaint by a filmmaker, CR Anil Kumar, alleging that the movie's script had used a story written by him with minor alterations. The complaint was filed against Zee Studios, Boney Kapoor and five others.As per the complainant, following the 2010 FIFA World Cup, he started researching about football and more particularly, about the contribution of Indian players to the game. This culminated in a dream to write a movie script about Indian footballers and their struggles during the initial years of independence. He alleged that in 2017, he had shared the idea with the film's Assistant Director, who offered to introduce the complainant to film producers and had met the complainant a few times.However, when he saw the trailer for Maidaan recently, he realised that it was based on the story written by him, the complainant added. Accordingly, he sought a declaration that the Maidaan was an infringement of his story titled 'Pathanduga' and an order preventing the respondents from screening the movie. On Monday, the District Court held that there was a prima facie case of infringement and therefore, stayed the release of the film. This led to a writ petition before the Karnataka High Court by Boney Kapoor.Senior Advocate Sajjan Poovayya, appearing for Kapoor, contended that the order of the District Court was a cryptic, laconic, non-speaking and unreasoned order, without any application of mind and contrary to the principles for grant of ad-interim ex-parte order of temporary injunction.In this context, he pointed out that the order did not explain how the plaintiff had made a prima facie case, how the balance of convenience was in his favour and how irreparable injury and hardship would be caused to him.Furthermore, he told the Court there was no material placed on record to establish alleged infringement of the alleged copyright.Therefore, he argued that the stay on the release of the film would cause irreparable injury and hardship to the petitioner.The High Court issued notice on the plea and listed the matter for hearing on April 24. Until then, it stayed the order of the Principal District and Sessions Judge at Mysore. .Senior Advocate Sajan Poovayya was briefed by advocates Dharmendra Chatur, Ishi Prakash, Ayushi Goyal, Manoj Raikar and Vishal K of Poovayya and Co. as well as advocates Ameet Naik, Madhu Godadia and Sujoy Mukherji of Anand and Naik..Notably, on April 8, a Mumbai court had refused to grant a stay on the release of the film.A vendor who had supplied camera for the shooting, Meherafrin Investments Private Limited (MIPL), had approached the Mumbai City Civil Court at Dindoshi in a commercial suit against the producers of the film, Byaview Projects LLP and Boney Kapoor.It had sought an injunction on the release of the film on account of unpaid dues of ₹64,59,577.