Kerala court on Kantara song Varaha Roopam: Injunction against playing it in theatres, OTT platforms

A Kerala court has imposed an interim order forbidding the use of a contentious song from the Kannada action movie Kantara in theaters, as well as on OTT and digital streaming platforms, claiming a prima facie violation of the Copyright Act.

First Additional District Court Judge K E Salih ordered that "due credit" be provided to the music band Thaikkudam Bridge and Mathrubhumi Printing and Publishing Company Ltd, who own the copyright to the Navarasam track used in the song Varaha Roopam in the 2022 film Kantara.

The legal case was begun last year, immediately after Kantara's discharge on September 30. The court noted that the track's music director acknowledged to deriving "inspiration" from Thaikkudam Bridge's Navarasam (2015), which is known for fusing rock music with Indian classical while keeping a distinctive style, speed, and melody.

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The court passed the interim order on Thursday while deciding on the allegations of plagiarism against Varaha Roopam. The plaint claimed that Varaha Roopam had infringed copyright laws by copying tracks from Navarasam.

Last week, after perusing the case diary, the Kozhikode Chief Judicial Magistrate had directed the police to seize documents relating to the plagiarised song — under Section 64 of the Copyright Act 1957 (copyright infringement).

Chief Judicial Magistrate S Sooraj on April 5 also instructed the investigating officer to seize the digital audio workstation and all plates used for the purpose of making the infringing copies of the work and to collect evidence to determine whether the music director had violated copyright rules.

This order was issued after Mathrubhumi filed a complaint alleging that the investigation was not progressing in the right direction. The Kozhikode court further instructed the investigating officer to provide the court with a progress report on the case by May 4.

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This year, on February 8, the Kerala High Court stated that Varaha Roopam in Kantara was a plagiarised version of Navarasam.

The 2013-founded band Thaikkudam Bridge is based out of Kochi, while Mathrubhumi, which is headquartered in Kozhikode, celebrated its centenary recently.