Minnal Murali Spin-Off Hits Roadblock After Writers Claim Copyright Over Tovino Starrer Franchise

Tovino Thomas’ starrer Minnal Murali has landed in legal trouble. The producers of the film are reportedly facing a copyright infringement case, which has been filed by the writers of the film.

Minnal Murali makers facing legal challenges?

According to reports, the writers of the film Arun Anirudhan and Justin Mathew have raised concern over copyright infringement. The duo has reportedly taken this issue to the district court in Kerala and have requested for an injunction to prevent the unauthorised user of the film’s character’s for commercial purposes.

According to The News Minute, Anirudhan and Mathew assert that they are the original creators of the characters and claimed that the production house failed to seek their consent before planning to expand the Minnal Murali universe. The expansion includes the spin-off projects and merchandise which reportedly violate their rights.

Arun AR and Justin Mathew have also stressed that they have the exclusive right to create spin-offs or merchandise based on the characters.

The order comes following the announcement of Detective Ujjwalan, a new film starring Dhyan Sreenivasan that refers to the fictional village of Kurukkanmoola, where Minnal Murali is set.

Will Detective Ujjwalan be affected amid the copyright case?

After the lawsuit, the injunction order for now has stated that any commercialisation of the characters without the permission of the writers would constitute a copyright infringement.

The characters named in the injunction order reportedly include the titular superhero Minnal Murali, Brucelee Biji, Josemon, PC Sibi Pothan, SI Sajan, PC Shinoj, and the film’s primary antagonist Shibu.

About Minnal Murali

Directed by Basil Joseph, Minnal Murali tells the story of Jaison a young tailor gains superpowers after being struck by lighting. 

The film stars Femina George, Shelly George, Arya Salim and Sneha Babu among others.