Kannada blockbuster Kantara lands in legal trouble once again

Kantara was one of the biggest pan-India hits in 2022. But it landed in legal soup because of its song Varaharoopam. Popular Kerala-based musical band Thaikkudam Bridge filed a case against the makers a few months ago alleging that Varaha Roopam was copied from their song Navarasam.

At that time, Kerala High Court ordered to remove Varaha Roopam song from the film in both theatres and streaming platforms. After a few weeks, the issue was settled and the court permitted the makers to use the song again.

Now, the controversy popped up once again as a Kerala court has issued an interim injunction prohibiting the use of Varaha Roopam in theatres and all OTT platforms, citing a violation of the Copyright Act. Last week, Kozhikode Chief Judicial Magistrate examined the case diary and directed police to seize documents of the plagiarized song, under Section 64 of the Copyright Act 1957 (copyright infringement).

The Kozhikode Court further ordered the investigating officer to submit a progress report on the case by May 4.

Kantara was written and directed by Rishab Shetty. He also played the lead role in it. Ajaneesh Loknath composed the music for this movie.