New Delhi, Nov 6 The Delhi High Court on Friday said the film "Doosra" prima facie violated cricketer Sourav Ganguly's personality rights but refused to interfere with the theatrical screening of the movie that was released last month.
Justice Tejas Karia, however, asked the filmmakers to add appropriate disclaimers in English and Hindi in the movie within two days to clarify that Ganguly did not consent to the use of his personality attributes and that it does not intend to violate his personality rights.
Justice Karia further directed the defendants to furnish a bank guarantee of Rs 2 crore within two weeks with the registrar general of the high court, as security to protect the cricketer's rights during the pendency of the case.
Ganguly's presence in the film is not confined to the depiction of historical events, and the defendants prima facie commercially exploited his identity and persona without any authorisation, the judge said.
The court passed the interim order on a lawsuit by Ganguly and Luv Films LLP, which is producing the biopic of the former cricket captain.
The defendant filmmakers opposed the grant of any interim relief in the matter, stating that "Doosra" was not a biopic but a fictional story of a middle-class Rajasthani girl Tara, who is inspired by certain sporting events involving the cricketer.
After considering the submissions of the parties and viewing the film as well as its teaser and trailer, the court said the film did not merely depict the sportsman as a participant in the history of Indian cricket and instead, "draws upon the recognition and commercial appeal associated with his identity and persona to generate interest in the fictional narrative concerning Tara".
The promotional material further indicates that Ganguly's identity and persona have been employed to generate commercial interest in the film, the court stated.
"The Impugned Film prima facie appears to be commercially exploiting the identity of Plaintiff No. 1 in a manner that extends beyond legitimate storytelling...The invocation of artistic freedom cannot justify the commercial exploitation of Plaintiff No. 1’s identity or permit Defendant Nos. 1 to 6 to impinge upon his personality rights," it observed.
In its 41-page judgement, the court observed that the defendants released the film despite knowing about the upcoming biopic on the cricketer and an "unexplained hiatus of nearly seven years", which "raises a prima facie impression" about their intention to commercially exploit Ganguly's identity and persona.
The court stated that in case of non compliance of its directions to add the disclaimer and furnish the bank guarantee, the defendants would be restrained from further exhibiting or exploiting the film on any platform, including OTTs.
On October 23, the high court had asked the makers of "Doosra" to respond to Ganguly's plea alleging violation of his personality rights in the movie and asked them to also arrange a screening.
On October 22, the high court had refused to stop the theatre release of the film on Ganguly's plea.
"Doosra: India's Other Freedom Struggle" is a sports drama directed by Abhinay Deo and starring Plabita Borthakur, Ankur Vikal and Samidha Guru.
The film released in theatres on October 23.
