The much-awaited theatrical run of Drishyam 3 has just hit a legal roadblock in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, and this time the trouble isn't box office numbers but a courtroom order. The Madras High Court has restrained the Telugu dubbed version of the Mohanlal-starrer thriller from streaming on any OTT platform, dealing a fresh blow to fans in the Telugu states who were eagerly waiting to watch the film in their own language after missing out on a wide theatrical release.
At the centre of this dispute is veteran director Sripriya, a well-known name in South Indian cinema who helmed the original Telugu version of Drishyam years ago. For the uninitiated, the Drishyam franchise has an unusual and fascinating history — it began as a Malayalam film starring Mohanlal, and was subsequently remade in multiple Indian languages, including Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, and Hindi, each becoming a hit in its own right. Sripriya's Telugu version was among the earliest adaptations of the gripping suspense drama, and it is this legacy that now forms the crux of her legal claim.
According to the order passed by Justice K Kumaresh Babu of the Madras High Court, Sripriya approached the court arguing that the rights to the Telugu version of the Drishyam story rightfully belong to her, given that she was the one who directed the original Telugu remake. Her plea appears to hinge on the argument that any subsequent Telugu adaptation, including the dubbed version of the newly released Drishyam 3, cannot bypass the rights she holds over the Telugu iteration of the franchise. The court, taking her submissions into consideration, has now put a stop on the film's Telugu OTT streaming until the matter is resolved.
This development is significant because Drishyam 3 had already generated massive buzz among Malayalam cinema lovers and the broader pan-India audience, with Mohanlal reprising his iconic role as Georgekutty, the everyman who outsmarts the law to protect his family. The franchise has long enjoyed a devoted following in the Telugu states as well, partly because of how effectively the original story translated into local sensibilities through its earlier remakes. For many Telugu viewers, streaming platforms were expected to be the primary way to catch up with the third instalment, especially if theatrical availability in Telugu was limited.
With the court's intervention, streaming platforms will now have to wait for further legal clarity before they can proceed with the Telugu dubbed rollout. It remains to be seen how the makers of Drishyam 3 and the streaming platform involved will respond to Sripriya's claims, and whether a resolution can be reached quickly enough to avoid prolonged disappointment for fans. Until then, the legal wrangle over remake rights has added an unexpected twist to what was otherwise shaping up to be one of the year's biggest South Indian film events, with industry watchers keenly following how this rights battle over a two-decade-old franchise legacy eventually plays out.
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