Tanvi Sinha
Delhi High Court refused a stay on the Netflix movie, The White Tiger, over allegations of copyright from American Producer John Hart based on the bestselling book of the same name by Arvind Adiga.
In an urgent last minute hearing, Justice C Hari Shankar stated that there was no reason to put a stay on a movie on the very last minute only 24 hours away from the release.
Hart said that he had bought the film rights of the book from Adiga in 2009 itself in a literary auction on the condition that he make an Oscar worthy movie of it.
The court said that, due to the timing of the hearing, and the movie being about to be released the very next day, it made no sense to put a stay on the movie as it would essentially ruin all the work that went into the film.
It also stated that prima facie it could not come to the conclusion based on simply the material shown that the defendants have indulged in copyright infringement.
The court said that to halt it now for Hart might mean his dreams ruined, but it would mean a financial loss for people behind the movie.
Lawyers for Hart contended this not being true as the film was only being asked to be halted from being released on an OTT channel (Netflix) and not the theatres.
However, the court stated that Netflix and the production behind the movie had to keep a sharp record of their finances related to the movie so that as the case proceeds and the situation calls for it, the petitioner be able to get his due from the defendants.
The movie stars Rajkumar Rao and Priyanka Chopra in its main roles and is set to release on Friday on Netflix.