New Delhi: Ekta Kapoor’s much-hyped reality show ‘Lock Upp’, hosted by Kangana Ranaut will not release on February 27 as scheduled. The show has been issued a stay order by the City Civil Court of Hyderabad following a petition from Sanober Baig.
Sanober Baig, the proprietor of Pride Media claims to be the original and sole owner of the script and concept behind a similar show ‘The Jail’. It has been written by Shantanu Ray and Sheershak Anand and registered under the copyright act on March 7, 2018. Sanober also explained the process of how the show was created and how money was invested at every stage of the show’s creative development. Because of this, he has accused Ekta Kapoor’s Alt Balaji, MX Player, and Endemol Shine of plagiarism, The Quint reported.
In a press conference on February 25, Baig said, “When I saw the promo of the said show I was in shock. I have been in touch with Abhishek Rege from Endemol Shine for a long time and had several meetings about the subject in Hyderabad. He had promised that once the market gets better, we will get going. The show is not only similar to our concept but an absolute copy of the same. I could not believe that somebody could plagiarise the concept to such an extent. We have prayed to the court for infringement of the copyright and have got a stay order.”
He also claims that he first approached the makers of the show regarding the infringement but they failed to act on it. If the infringement is proved, it will be a violation of sections 51 and 52 of the Copyright Act and will likely be postponed.
The show’s contestants also include Munawar Faruqui, Babita Phogat, Karaanvir Bohra, and Poonam Pandey and it was set to release on MX Player and ALT Balaji on February 27.
