- Madras High Court barred Drishyam 3's Telugu-dubbed release on OTT platforms.
- Rajkumar Theatre Pvt Ltd filed the plea to stop the Telugu digital premiere.
- Rajkumar Theatre holds exclusive rights to Telugu remakes of the Drishyam series.
The Madras High Court has issued an interim injunction restraining the makers of the Malayalam thriller Drishyam 3 from releasing its Telugu-dubbed version on OTT platforms, just a day ahead of the film's scheduled digital premiere, according to an Indian Express report. The order was passed on a plea moved by the film production company Rajkumar Theatre Pvt Ltd.
Interestingly, one needs to understand how a company that didn't produce the film holds a stake in stopping its digital release.
The original Drishyam (2013), directed by Jeethu Joseph and starring Mohanlal, became the first Malayalam film to gross over Rs 50 crore worldwide and was remade across multiple Indian languages.
Rajkumar Sethupathi, who runs Rajkumar Theatre, acquired the rights to remake the film in Telugu and, on Kamal Haasan's suggestion, brought Venkatesh on board for the lead role; the film was eventually directed by Sripriya and titled Drushyam (2014).
The Telugu version went on to become one of the highest-grossing Telugu films of that year.
When the Malayalam sequel Drishyam 2 released in 2021, its Telugu remake, again titled Drushyam 2, was jointly produced by D. Suresh Babu (Suresh Productions), Antony Perumbavoor (Aashirvad Cinemas, the banner behind the Malayalam originals), and Rajkumar Sethupathi (Rajkumar Theatres).
That joint production across two instalments underlies Rajkumar Theatre's current position that it holds standing rights to the Telugu-language version of the franchise.
The rights are even directly applicable to the third film of the franchise, even though no separate Telugu remake of Drishyam 3 was eventually made.
Rajkumar Theatre approached the court seeking to restrain the producers, the director, and their agents, employees, assignees, and licensees from infringing the company's exclusive copyright to remake and exploit the film in the Telugu language by releasing a dubbed version anywhere in the world.
The suit names M. J. Antony of Aashirvad Cinemas, director Jeethu Joseph, Panorama Studios, and Pen Studios as defendants. According to the company, streaming a Telugu-dubbed version on a platform without its involvement would amount to a direct violation of that copyright.
About Drishyam 3
Drishyam 3 is written and directed by Jeethu Joseph and produced by Antony Perumbavoor for Aashirvad Cinemas.
It is a sequel to Drishyam 2 (2021) and the third instalment in the Drishyam film series. The film stars Mohanlal alongside Meena, Ansiba Hassan, Esther Anil, Kalabhavan Shajon, Siddique, Murali Gopy, and Asha Sarath.