Court issues stay order on reality show to be hosted by Kangana Ranaut

Mumbai: The reality show 'Lock Upp' hosted by Kangana Ranaut, which was set to be aired from Sunday, has been put on hold by the City Civil Court of Hyderabad.

As a result, the show will not air on any form of electronic or social media.

After taking note of a video clip of the trailer of the show, the court issued an ad-interim injunction on releasing the upcoming show, saying that it bears resemblance to petitioner Sanober Baig's story and the script of the concept 'The Jail'.

The concept, which is owned by Pride Media through its proprietor Sanober Baig, was written by Shaantanu Ray and Sheershak Anand and is registered under the Copyright Act on March 7, 2018 and was also registered at the Film Writers Association.

The petition explains how the concept was developed and also lists the details of the money invested by him at various stages of concept development.

Commenting on the situation, Sanober said, "When I saw the promo of the said show, I was in shock. I have been in touch with Abhishek Rege from Endemol Shine for a long time and had several meetings about the subject in Hyderabad. He had promised that once the market gets better, we will get going."

He further mentioned that the show is outrightly plagiarised, saying: "The show is not only similar to our concept, but it is an absolute copy of the same. I could not believe that somebody could plagiarise the concept to such an extent. We have prayed to the court for infringement of copyright and have got a stay order."

If the legal representatives of the petitioner are successful in proving infringement, the defendant production house (Ekta Kapoor's AltBalaji) will be liable for consequences under Sections 51 and 52 of the Copyright Act.

It's not that Sanober directly knocked the court's door. It was only after the production house refused to have a dialogue with him that Sanober reached out to the court.

"I connected with the respective companies and requested them not to go ahead with the concept. But they turned a deaf ear and challenged that they have every right to stream as per the schedule," he said.

"I had no option but to seek redressal from the judiciary. The notice has been served to all the parties involved and we have the acknowledgement of the same. If the show gets aired, it'll be a contempt of the court. I have full faith in the judiciary and I am sure that justice will be served," Sanober signed off.