Kerala HC dismisses petitions of 'Kantara' producer on plagiarism allegations

Kochi (Kerala) [India], November 23 : The Kerala High Court on Wednesday dismissed the petitions filed by Hombale Films, the producer of 'Kantara' movie against the ad-interim injunction orders passed by the two lower courts restraining the use of the song 'Varaha Roopam' in the movie.
The injunction orders from lower courts came on the allegation of plagiarism of the song 'Navarasam' of Kerala-based band Thaikkudam Bridge.
Single bench of CS Dias has dismissed the petitions challenging the orders of the Palakkad District Court and the Kozhikode District Court. High Court also gave liberty to the petitioner to avail alternate legal remedies.
Kerala High Court has observed that the petitioner approached the court under Article 227 of the Constitution of India, entirely bypassing the procedure laid down in the CrPC while dealing with applications under Order 39 of the Code.
The supervisory jurisdiction of this Court is not to be exercised to inter-meddle with every ad-interim order passed by the subordinate courts. If that is the case, the courts of original jurisdiction and appellate courts will become defunct, the court observed.
The Court observed that it will be flooded with such litigation, unsettling and dislodging the legislative framework laid down under the Code. The contentions raised by the petitioner included mixed questions of facts and law, which would have to be dealt with by the court of the first instance or the appellate court.
"It is not for this Court to examine each and every contention raised in the original petition, that too at the ad-interim stage, and rule upon their worthiness and correctness. If this Court carries out such an exercise, it will foreclose the statutory rights of the parties and will undoubtedly cause grave prejudice to them," the court said.
'Kantara' is a 2022 Kannada-language action thriller film written and directed by Rishab Shetty, and produced by Vijay Kiragandur, under Hombale Films.