The release of the Hindi Drishyam 3, starring Ajay Devgn and Tabu, will not be stopped for now, with the Madras High Court refusing to grant an interim injunction in a dispute over who owns the film’s remake rights.
Justice K Govindarajan Thilakavadi held that Rajkumar Theatres Private Limited had not placed enough material before the Court to establish, at this stage, that it still possessed an exclusive or shared copyright over the Hindi remake rights to the Malayalam sequel.
The Court made it clear, however, that the order was not a final ruling on ownership. The competing claims arising from a series of agreements and later transactions will have to be examined in detail during the proceedings.
Claim over Hindi remake rights
Rajkumar Theatres approached the High Court under Section 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, seeking to prevent the worldwide release and exploitation of the Hindi film across cinemas, OTT platforms, satellite television and other formats.
The production house traced its claim to agreements entered into in December 2013 with Kerala-based Ashirvad Cinemas and director Jeethu Joseph concerning remake rights in the Drishyam franchise.
According to Rajkumar Theatres, it obtained exclusive Telugu remake rights under the arrangement, while Wide Angle Creations acquired rights for Hindi and certain North Indian languages.
Rajkumar Theatres maintained that it had financed the entire ₹50 crore consideration involved in the transaction. It further claimed that a subsequent agreement executed in June 2014 established equal ownership between Rajkumar Theatres and Wide Angle Creations over the copyright in the Hindi versions of the films.
The dispute resurfaced after Rajkumar Theatres learnt that Drishyam 3 had been produced in Hindi by parties involved with Drishyam 2, allegedly without its approval.
Later agreements clouded the claim
The respondents, including Ashirvad Cinemas, Jeethu Joseph, Star Studio 18 and Panorama Studios, disputed Rajkumar Theatres’ case.
They argued that there was no subsisting document giving Rajkumar Theatres an enforceable right to prevent the Hindi film from being released.
Their case relied, among other things, on a 2014 assignment in favour of Viacom18 and settlement agreements executed in 2022. These documents, they argued, demonstrated that the relevant Hindi sequel and derivative rights had subsequently moved to other parties.
The High Court found that these competing documents raised questions that could not be conclusively settled at the interim stage.
It also noted that stopping a film’s worldwide release could have significant consequences for the respondents as well as third parties who claimed rights through subsequent agreements.
For such an extraordinary restraint to be granted, the Court said, there had to be sufficiently clear material showing that a subsisting right existed and that it faced an imminent infringement.
Release remains unaffected for now
The Court also observed that two central questions — whether Rajkumar Theatres’ original rights extended to Drishyam 3 and whether those rights were later assigned elsewhere — would require further examination.
Finding that the material before it did not establish Rajkumar Theatres’ continuing exclusive or joint copyright in the Hindi remake rights with sufficient clarity, the Court dismissed the request for an interim stay.
The decision therefore leaves the Hindi Drishyam 3 free from the requested injunction while the underlying dispute over the remake rights remains to be adjudicated.
Senior Advocate K Ravi represented Rajkumar Theatres, while Senior Advocate P S Raman appeared for Star Studio 18. Advocates K Sharath Chandran, Akshaya Ramadurai and K Manoj Menon appeared for the other respondents.