A City Civil Court in Chennai on Thursday dismissed an application filed by a film producer seeking to restrain the maker of the film from releasing or exploiting the movie under the title ‘Jilla’.
R. Naraja, XVI Assistant City Civil Judge said, “There is no prima facie case made out for granting the relief of temporary injunction. R. Mahendran of Sowmita Sri Arts filed the suit along with interim application seeking to restrain Super Good Films from releasing, distributing or exhibiting the Tamil film titled ‘Jilla without altering the title.
Mr. Mahendran also said he was the owner of all the rights and title ‘Jilla’ which was the dubbed version of a popular Telugu movie named ‘Bhageeratha’. Apart from being a member of the Film and Television Producers’ Guild of South India, he said he had also registered the title ‘Jilla’ in 2008. He released the film in some areas and was waiting to release in other areas. The petitioner added that his film business would be affected if the film titled ‘Jilla’ starring Vijay is released without changing the title.
P. L. Narayanan, counsel for Super Good Films said that the petitioner had no right to claim the title and the registration expired last year. He came to court only just two days before the release even though the title was widely publicised several months ago and spent money on advertisement.
Dismissing the interim application, Mr. Naraja pointed out that the petitioner had not renewed the title and he was not member of the Film and Television Producers’ Guild of South India. Pointing out that the petitioner had filed the suit belatedly, the Judge said, “No reason was stated by the petitioner why he has not filed the suit earlier.”
