New Delhi: Rajinikanth-starrer 'Kaala' would hit the screens on Thursday as the Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to entertain a plea seeking to restrain its screening.
A vacation bench of Justices Adarsh Kumar Goel and Ashok Bhushan refused to entertain a plea by K S Rajashekaran, a film producer, who has claimed that the story of the film and songs and scenes of the movie were his work.
The release of the movie 'Kaala', produced by Rajinikanth's son-in-law actor Dhanush under the banner of Wonderbar Films Pvt Ltd and directed by Pa Ranjith, was postponed earlier and the flick is now scheduled to hit screens on Thursday.
During the brief hearing, Rajashekaran's counsel alleged before the bench that the petitioner had the copyright of the movie and producers of the movie have not taken prior permission before making the film.
"You want an injunction against the release of the movie. Everybody is waiting for the film to be released," the bench told the counsel, who claimed that release of the film was postponed twice earlier.
The lawyer then referred to the May 16 order of the Madras High Court which has posted his plea against the release of the movie for hearing on June 16.
"Let it (movie) be released. How can we stop the release," the bench said while refusing to entertain the plea. In his petition before the apex court, the petitioner has alleged that he had duly applied for registration of copyright over the story of the movie 'Karikalan' way back in 1992 and script of the film was read out to people during a function and also to Rajinikanth's brother.
He claimed that he always wanted to portray Rajinikanth as the lead character in the movie and he got registered the title 'Karikalan', who was a Chola king, in 1994.
The petitioner has claimed that his copyright-protected work related to story, scenes and songs were used by the producer and director of 'Kaala' without prior permission.
However, Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy has said that the film should not be released in his state "in the present situation". Kumaraswamy, who took charge two weeks ago, has been accused by many of bowing to groups who are upset with Rajinikanth over his comments on the Cauvery river dispute between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
"Kaala" is facing the anger of pro-Kannada groups who have threatened to disrupt screenings if the movie releases despite a ban by a Karnataka film body.
Rajinikanth appealed to the Karnataka Chief Minister to facilitate the film's release by providing security at movie theatres in the state.
The appeal followed a Karnataka High Court order that asked the state government to provide security to theatres that want to screen Kaala in Tamil and other versions from Thursday.