The Supreme Court, on Thursday, cleared the Hindi film Jhund, starring Amitabh Bachchan, for OTT release by staying the recent status quo order passed by the Telangana High Court.
The Telangana HC had passed the order, which prevented the release of the film, based on a petition filed by one Nandi Chinni Kumar. The Hyderabad-based filmmaker had first moved a trial court alleging copyright infringement by the makers of Jhund, including director Nagraj Popatrao Manjule and producer Super Cassettes Industries Pvt Ltd (T Series), and seeking damages.
Kumar then approached the Ranga Reddy Court at Kukatpally in Telangana seeking to revoke a January 2021 order that had dismissed his lawsuit seeking damages. In March, the court dismissed his plea, which claimed that the settlement agreement in the suit was based on fraud. The court also imposed a cost of Rs 10 lakh on him.
Kumar had also filed for an injunction against the film’s theatrical release, alleging a breach of the terms of settlement, in the earlier case against the makers of the film. But, it was also rejected by the trial court and the film premiered in theatres, as planned on March 4.
Later, Kumar moved the Telangana High Court challenging the trial court’s order.
On April 29, the High Court passed an interim order directing a status quo to be maintained by both parties until June 8. This meant the film could not be released on an OTT platform until the order was lifted.
The makers of the film then moved the Supreme Court seeking interim relief, and on Thursday, the SC stayed the High Court’s order and cleared the way for the film’s OTT release on Zee5 on Friday.
Recommended
The case has been posted to May 13 for the final disposal of the petition.
Jhund is written and directed by Nagraj Manjule. The story is based on the life of a retired sports teacher named Vijay Barse, who founded an NGO called ‘Slum Soccer’. Bachchan stars as the teacher who builds and coaches a football team of children from the street, in an attempt to keep them from falling into a life of drugs and crime.