Hence, an ad-interim direction is given to the respondents to exhibit the following disclaimer in Tamil and English and Telugu and English in both the Tamil and Telugu version of the movie by names ‘MAAVEERAN’ and ‘MAHAVEERUDU’ respectively in a fairly big fonts, at the beginning of the movie before title cards for 15 seconds, after intermission for 10 seconds and at the end of the movie for 10 seconds. Disclaimer “The political party figuring in this film is fictional and does not reflect any political party in India. Any Superficial resemblance in the flags, banners or items of clothing to any existing party are unintentional. No such inference may be drawn by the viewers.” 16. Issue notice to the respondents 4 and 5 returnable in 2 weeks and this matter is ordered to be listed after 2 weeks. 12.07.2023 Note: Issue Order Copy by Today i.e. 12.07.2023 sri R.N.MANJULA, J. sri O.A.No.618 of 2023, A.No.3448 of 2023 in C.S.No.123 of 2023 12.07.2023

O.A.No.618 of 2023,
A.No.3448 of 2023 in C.S.No.123 of 2023 R.N.MANJULA, J.
The Civil Suit has been filed by the plaintiff for permanent injunction to stop the exhibition of the trailer and release of the movie by name ‘Maaveeran’ in Tamil language and ‘Mahaveerudu’ in Telugu language worldwide, which according to the plaintiff is per se defamatory to the plaintiff’s political party, by restraining the defendants or their men, agents, servants, directors, representatives, successors, assignees or any person on their behalf, concerning the release of the movie with the depiction of the plaintiff political party’s flag, muffler, dhotis and other properties in a bad taste and also for mandatory injunction against defendants 1 and 2 to remove the offending portions and to pay damages for Rs.1,00,01,000/- (Rupees One Crore and One Thousand only).
2. O.A.No.618 of 2023 has been filed by the applicant / plaintiff for ad-interim injunction and A.No.3448/2023 for directing the respondents 1 and 2 to delete/remove the relevant portion before the release of the movie.
3. Heard Dr.V.Venkatesan, learned counsel for the applicant / plaintiff and Mr.P.S.Raman, learned Senior Counsel for Mr.Vijayan Subramanian, for respondents 1 and 2 and Mr.S.Karthkei Balan for the third respondent.
4. The applicant / plaintiff is a political party by name Indiya Jananayaka Katchi (IJK) represented by its General Secretary. The party was founded by Dr.T.R.Paarivendhar, Member of Parliament. It is submitted by the learned counsel for the applicant / plaintiff that the said political party is promoting education and developing the youth in the marginally downtrodden and poor population in the State of Tamil Nadu. The party has introduced a flag in a red-white-red colour combination in equal portions in a rectangular shape and the party has been registered in the year 2010 with the Election Commission of India. The party is said to have contested elections from the year 2010 by forming alliance.
5. The contention of the applicant / plaintiff is that a recent trailer of the Tamil movie ‘Maaveeran’ on YouTube (https://youtu.be/EcNACt-LOi0) and Telugu movie ‘Mahaveerudu’ on YouTube (https://youtu.be/N5KWtTj_JzY) depicts the applicants’ political party in a bad taste and that would damage the Party’s image in the general public.
6. By running the trailer in the court, it is submitted by the learned counsel for the applicant / plaintiff that the plaintiff’s political party is depicted in a derogatory manner and it damages the image of the party.
7. Mr.P.S.Raman, learned Senior Counsel for the respondents 1 and 2 submitted that the flag in the movie is in no way similar to the flag of the applicant’s party. He also tried to differentiate by showing that the flag in the movie is in cherry red colour with maroon border with pale yellow in the middle and the applicant’s flag is in bright right red on top and bottom and white in the middle by having letters IJK. It is further submitted that the scenes of the movies does not imitate the applicant’s flag or ideas. However, it is submitted that the disclaimer slides can be exhibited intermittently by stating that the movie is not intended to imitate or hurt the feelings of any other political party in the State or Country and that the stopping the release would cause irreparable loss to the respondents 1 and 2 who invested huge amount of money in producing the movie.
8. However the learned counsel for the applicant is not satisfied with the suggestions given by the senior counsel for the respondents 1 and 2 and insisted that the colours of the flag in the movie should be changed completely.
9. After a lengthy arguments and the discussions one thing came to be clear is that the Digital Prints of the movie is already out through the 5th respondent “QUBE’ platform and so it is not practically possible to impact any change in the colour and it would diminish the quality of the output of the movie.
10. The movie is scheduled to be released on 14.07.2023 and it is said to have been produced at an approximate budget of Rs.50 Crores and it is scheduled to be released worldwide through 750 screens. Hence granting of any injunction would cause loss to the respondents whose turn over is expected only in a few days of the release of a movie.
11. While watching the trailer, this Court could see in some scenes, some characters hold flags designed in a combination of maroon red and white. The colour of the applicant’s party is bright red with white colour.
The flag used in the movie is seen to be in cherry red and pale yellow combination with a conch engrossed in the middle. On a sudden sight it appears to be more or less similar to the design of the applicant’s flag although there is a slight variation in the colour. However, it can not be considered to be so strong or deep that the viewers would only imagine the applicant’s political party in that fraction of the second exhibition each time.
It is claimed that such kind of scenes occur in many places in the movie.
12. The story of the movie is said to be on some political theme. Some of the characters carry political flags of rectangle shape with the colour combination of cherry red up and down and pale yellow in the middle in equal portion with a conch engrossed in the middle and they are fairly distinguishable. If the release of the movie is stopped as prayed by the applicant / plaintiff that would affect the interest of the respondents more than the applicant / plaintiff.
13. The respondents are agreeable to exhibit disclaimers at the beginning of the movie before title cards for 15 seconds and after intermission for 10 seconds and at the end of the movie for 10 seconds, I feel that would balance the interest of both the parties.
14. When the second defendant, who is the director of the movie was asked to give suggestions, he has stated that the colour saturation can be slightly modified but it can not be done immediately. As stated already the movie is scheduled to be released on 14.07.2023 across the world. In such a tight schedule, nothing much can be done immediately. However, I feel the above suggestion of disclaimer itself would meet out the concerns expressed by the applicant / plaintiff. However, the respondents shall take all endeavours to modify the saturation of the colour of the objects pointed out in the petition, before the movie is released on O.T.T. / Satellite platforms.
15. Hence, an ad-interim direction is given to the respondents to exhibit the following disclaimer in Tamil and English and Telugu and
English in both the Tamil and Telugu version of the movie by names ‘MAAVEERAN’ and ‘MAHAVEERUDU’ respectively in a fairly big
fonts, at the beginning of the movie before title cards for 15 seconds, after intermission for 10 seconds and at the end of the movie for 10 seconds.
Disclaimer
“The political party figuring in this film is fictional and does not reflect any political party in India. Any Superficial resemblance in the flags, banners or items of clothing to any existing party are unintentional. No such inference may be drawn by the viewers.”
16. Issue notice to the respondents 4 and 5 returnable in 2 weeks and this matter is ordered to be listed after 2 weeks.

12.07.2023 Note: Issue Order Copy by Today i.e. 12.07.2023
sri
R.N.MANJULA, J.
sri
O.A.No.618 of 2023,
A.No.3448 of 2023 in C.S.No.123 of 2023
12.07.2023