Kannada actor-filmmaker Rakshit Shetty is in legal trouble yet again. Yeshwanthpur police have registered a case of copyright violation under Section 63 of Copyright Act, 1957, against him and his production company, Paramvah Studios, for using two Kannada songs in Bachelor Party— bankrolled by his banner — without permission. The film hit the screens on January 26, 2024.
Based on a complaint by Naveen Kumar M., partner and authorised signatory of MRT music, the police have registered FIR against Rakshit and Paramvah Studios Private Limited. Naveen’s company owns the rights for the songs.
Naveen, in his complaint, has said that Rakshit had approached MRT company seeking permission to use the title track Nyaya Ellide and Omme Ninnannu (from Gaali Maathu) songs for Bachelor Party in January this year, but the permission wasn’t granted. Naveen reportedly realised the usage of those songs after watching Bachelor Party on Amazon Prime Video.
The police said that they have served two notices to Shetty, but they haven’t received any response yet. Based on the third notice, further action would be initiated against him, they added.
This isn’t the first time Rakshit has been involved in a legal tussle. The Sapta Sagaradaache Ello actor was involved in a four-year legal battle with Lahari Velu, director of Lahari Music. Velu had accused Rakshit’s Paramvah Studios of copyright violation when the Rishab Shetty-directed film Kirik Partyhad released in 2016.
Velu had said that the song, Hey who are you, from Kirik Party, had lifted interludes from Madhya Rathrili, the famous song from V. Ravichandran’s Shanthi Kranthi (1991). Lahari, who owned the rights to the song, had also filed a copyright violation against Kirik Party’s music composer Ajaneesh Lokanath. Eventually, in 2021, Vijay Kiragandur, owner of the Hombale Films, helped both parties arrive at a compromise.
