Even before it began streaming on Sunday, February 27, Kangana Ranut's talkshow Lock Upp, produced by Ekta Kapoor's Balaji Telefilms, is in trouble.
The city civil court in Hyderabad has issued an ad interim injunction on releasing Lock Upp.
The order was awarded after checking the documents of the petitioner Sanober Baig, who states that he is the sole right holder of the story and the script of the concept The Jail.
The court also took on record a video clip of the trailer of Lock Upp and concluded that it appears similar.
Since the show was to be released on February 27, the court passed the order with an urgent notice prohibiting the exhibition of the show on any electronic media, social media, etc.
The concept is owned by Pride Media through its proprietor Sanober Baig and was written by Shaantanu Ray and Sheershak Anand and registered under the Copyright Act on March 7, 2018. It was registered at the Film Writers Association.
In the petition, Baig described how the concept was developed and also explained the concept in detail, giving the details of the money invested at various stages of concept development.
'When I saw the promo of the said show I was in shock,' Baig said in a statement issued after the stay order. '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. The show is not only similar to our concept but an absolute copy of the same,' Baig added.
'I could not believe that somebody could plagiarise the concept to such an extent. We have prayed to the court for infringement of the copyright and have got a stay order.'
'I connected with the respective companies and requested them not to go ahead with the concept,' Baig said in the statement. 'But they turned a deaf ear and challenged that they have every right to stream as per the schedule.'
'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 acknowledgment of the same.'
'If the show gets aired it'll be a contempt of the court,' Baig stated. 'I have full faith in the judiciary and am sure that justice will be served.'
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com
