FIR against Vir Das, Netflix over copyright violation

The Mumbai Police have registered an FIR against stand-up comedian Vir Das, two other persons and online streaming platform Netflix on charges of copyright rules violation following a complaint by a producer, an official said on Tuesday. Theatre producer Ashvin Gidwani in his police complaint said that in October 2010, his company signed a contract with Vir to produce a show.

In January 2020, when Ashvin saw a promo of a new show of Vir Das on Netflix, the producer realised that some content had allegedly been copied from the previous show (of 2010) with a few changes, the official from Cuffe Parade police station said. Based on Ashvin’s complaint, a case was registered on November 4 against Vir, two other persons and Netflix under relevant provisions of the Copyright Act, the official said. No arrest has been made so far, he said, adding that an investigation is on into the case.

On Monday, right-wing group 'Hindu Janajagruti Samiti' approached the police in Bengaluru, seeking cancellation of a show by Vir, alleging that it will hurt the religious sentiments of Hindus and show India in bad light to the world. Last year also, police complaints were filed against the comedian over one of his videos, following which he had issued a statement saying his comments were not intended to insult the country.