Maker of Kannada film KGF reacts in the wake of a stay order on its release from Bangalore City Civil Court; refuses to react to rumours
Himesh Mankad (MUMBAI MIRROR; December 21, 2018)

Yash and Srinidhi Shetty’s action-packed KGF: Kolar Gold Fields, hyped as the biggest Kannada film, has run into a legal tangle just hours before its 4 am premiere on Friday. Late on Thursday evening, the Bangalore City Civil Court passed an interim injunction against the film’s release following a petition filed by Venkatesh G against producer Vijay Kiragandur of Hombale Films and Lakshmi Narayana of Arya Films informing that he had bought the film rights to Rowdy Tangham’s real life story and claimed that KGF is heavily inspired by the same.

The order demanded that the producers be present in court for the next hearing, scheduled for January 7. Subsequently, the law firm of Vekantesh, Ekalavya & Associates issued a notice to UFO Moviez warning them that screening the film on December 21 would result in contempt of court and every party will be liable to bear the consequences in case of a breach.

The film has been booked in 2000-plus screens across India, the widest release for a Kannada film till date. Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani are presenting the film in Hindi and a number of city theatres had also allowed shows to it with the press screening scheduled for 9.30 am.

When Mirror reached out to Ritesh, he insisted we speak to the creative producer, Karthik Gowda, who asserted, “We have not received any order from the court as of now and refuse to react to such rumours. The film will release on December 21 as planned.”

At the time of this paper going to print, we asked Gowda about their future course of action in case they received a court order on Friday. “It is not possible to stall such a wide release at the last minute. All the shows for the opening day are house full. I don’t want to believe anything till I see the order for myself,” he said.

KGF: Chapter 1 is the first installment in the two part action-period drama set in the Kolar Gold Fields. It is written-directed by Prashanth Neel and features Yash and Shrinidhi as leads.