Bombay HC refuses to interfere with release of web series Betaal

The Bombay high court (HC) on Friday refused to interfere with the worldwide release of web series BETAAL.

The horror series, produced by Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment and Netflix Entertainment Services, was released on over the top (OTT) platform, Netflix, on Sunday.

Scriptwriter Sameer Wadekar had moved the court seeking an injunction against the makers of BETAAL, claiming he has written many stories, which were protected by copyright law, and registered with Screen Writers Association. He claimed VETAAL was one of the original literary works that he had written in 2013-2014 and registered in 2015.

He cited that on May 7, he received a YouTube video from a friend. It was a promo of a web series BETAAL and the 146-second clip contained at least 13 similarities with his own copyright work, VETAAL.

However, Justice KR Shriram was not convinced with Wadekar’s claims. The judge questioned how Wadekar’s work could have landed with the BETAAL writer. He also found Wadekar’s claim to be dated because Netflix had announced in July 2019 that it would come out with a web series called BETAAL and the news was widely carried at that time. The judge said that the concept of BETAAL originates from Vetalam based on the well-known mythological story of Vikramaditya and Vetaal.

The court has, however, allowed Wadekar to amend his complaint to include the claim of damages against BETAAL producers.