Another court bars Kantara makers from playing Varaha Roopam in theatres, OTT, streaming apps

Days after the Kozhikode District and Sessions court, passed an injunction against the makers of Kannada movie Kantara, another court in Kerala, on Wednesday, November 2, directed the makers of the song Varaha Roopam, featured in the movie, to stop its streaming. The injunction passed by the Palakkad District Court was based on a lawsuit filed by  Mathrubhumi Printing and Publishing Company Ltd, which holds the copyright over the Navarasam song by popular Kerala-based band Thaikkudam Bridge.

Kerala-based band Thaikkudam Bridge had alleged that there are "unavoidable similarities" between Kantara's Varaha Roopam, and the band's own song Navarasam released in 2015. The band took to Instagram to share the development and wrote: “Thank you for everyone’s continued support.”

Allowing the injunction order passed against producer Hombale Films, writer-director Rishab Shetty, and Prithviraj Productions, the Palakkad court ordered the makers of Kantara and streaming platforms from “exhibiting, releasing on OTT Platform, streaming, distributing or communicating to the public, the film Kantara with the syncronised song Varaha Roopam until further orders.”

Earlier, on October 29, the Kozhikode court passed an injunction against the makers of Kantara and several music streaming platforms from playing the song Varaha Roopam from the film, after Thaikkudam Bridge filed a copyright infringement suit. The court injuncted the producer, director, music composer, Amazon, YouTube, Spotify, Wynk Music, JioSaavn and others from playing the song Varaha Roopam from Kantara without the permission of Thaikkudam Bridge. Advocate Satish Murthi, who appeared for Thaikkudam Bridge told LiveLaw that they would serve notices on YouTube as well.

Thaikkudam’s Navarasam, a classical rock number, was a tribute to Kerala’s popular art form Kathakali and spoke about its commercialisation. Varaha Roopam in Kantara depicts the beliefs and worship of Bhoota Aradhane in Dakshina Kannada.  Kantara, which was first released in Kannada on September 30, has seen huge commercial success across states. It was later dubbed and released in other languages including Telugu and Hindi.

Read: ‘Varaha Roopam’ not based on same set of ragas as ‘Navarasam’, says Sai Vignesh

Watch: The Chinmayi Show on TNM. In this week's episode, singer Chinmayi discusses stalking, actor Parvathy, journalist Chandra Srikanth and many others share their experiences