Expressing strong displeasure over plagiarism and unauthorised remake of other movies in Odia cine industry, the Orissa High Court has sought implementation of a mechanism to support and encourage the triumph of originality in the cine tradition.

Justice Dr. S K Panigrahi, while nullifying the 31st Odisha State Film Awards 2019 on the ground that the awarded movies were not original versions, said, “The film business should develop a self-regulatory framework to deal with plagiarism, educate people about it, and punish guilty creators”.

Ordering that ‘Khusi’ and ‘Golmal Love’ shall not be considered for any award category in the fresh list, the court directed declaration of the 31st Odisha State Film Awards- 2019 within one month.

“In the impugned selection, the film “Khusi” of Taranga Cine Production, which has been selected for awards in categories, is a remake of a Korean film “Hope” and the film “Golmal love LOVE” is also plagiarised from a Punjabi film “Carry on Jatta”,” the court observed while disposing the petition moved by Bobby Islam, a filmmaker, challenging the selection of those movies in the award category by jury committee.

The Odisha State Film Award Rules, 2010 stipulates that the dubbed/ revised/ copied/ remake version of films are ineligible for entry.

There seems to be a running trend of reproducing already existing works to mint quick money. This thirst of quick fame and money might be beneficial for an individual but it throws the integrity of the art to the wolves, the single bench judge Justice Panigrahi stated in the order.

The audience should also not to be taken for granted. After watching a movie, the crowd searches the internet to validate their concerns because they are essentially convinced that no film produced in Odia can be original.

This is even more worrisome because it represents a significant decline in audience appreciation and sensitivity for the arts. This perception can spell disaster for the Odia cine industry.

Plagiarism in the film business is made to go unpunished and unregulated by the heedlessness and lack of standards against such practices.

In fact, due to lack of regulation and significant costs of litigation, the majority of dissatisfied creators choose not to pursue legal action.

Many of the films that featured in the final award list are remakes of some films made in other languages which should not have qualified the cut for the awards in the first place.

The award list published by the authorities concerned is fraught with irregularities which are blatantly unlawful and arbitrary for it is contrary to the concerned rules and guidelines which guide the selection of the awards, the order said.

“The impugned award list shall be trashed and a fresh list of nominations shall be published keeping in rules that govern the procedure. The impugned movies i.e. “Khusi” and “Golmal love” shall not be considered for any award category in the fresh list”, the Court concluded in its order.