Filmmaker Suneel Darshan, who has helmed films like Jaanwar (1999), Ek Rishtaa (2001) and Talaash: The Hunt Begins (2003) starring Akshay Kumar, has filed an FIR against YouTube, Google and its CEO Sundar Pichai. 

The reason for filing an FIR against the tech giant is copyright infringement. 

He has alleged that his 2017 film Ek Haseena Thi Ek Deewana Tha starring his son Shiv Darshan is illegally streaming on YouTube and has garnered millions of views. 

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Darshan has also stated that he hasn’t yet sold the rights of his film to any streaming platform and had written to Google multiple times to take down the movie besides reporting it on the platform but there hasn’t been any response from them. 

Talking to ETimes about the FIR, Suneel stated, “My movie, which I have not uploaded anywhere and not sold to anyone in the world, was found on YouTube with millions of views. I kept requesting them (Google) to withdraw and I was just left running from pillar to post. I got so frustrated; left with no choice I had to go to the court. And fortunately, the court gave an order in my favour and instructed the police to file an FIR. There are over a billion infringements and I have a record of each of them. It's about these people who claim that they follow the law and now they have no systems in place. Those monetising my videos are benefitting. I don't want to challenge technology, but the misuse of technology.” 

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He further added that he is ready for a settlement as well, “I'm only fighting for my rights. How can someone use my content, exclusively copyrighted to me, not sold to anyone, not shared with anyone, on the platform? And then they have their own reasons, and they don't even remove it. I have lost the film's entire value and they have done it before also, that's a different case.” 

Suneel Darshan’s Advocate Aditya Chitale told the website, “By their action of uploading the audio-visuals and the audio of his film Ek Haseena Thi Ek Deewana Tha, YouTube and its officials have not only considerably eroded the marketability and the value of the intellectual property rights of the audio-visuals and audio of the film, but YouTube has also unjustly enriched itself by earning huge revenue through advertisements and other sources through the exhibition of the content. Mr Darshan had complained to YouTube/Google and its officials several times, but they ignored his complaints and continued to earn huge revenue for themselves at Mr Darshan's cost by illegally exploiting his intellectual property rights.” 

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Sundar Pichai was recently announced to be one of the recipients of Padma Bhushan honour by the government of India. 

When asked by BollywoodLife if he is ready for social media trolling who may accuse him of doing all this just for publicity, Darshan replied, “I am not trying to gain publicity at all. I am only trying to put facts on record. I don’t intend anything more than that. As a filmmaker and a copyright owner, I have certain rights and when you mercilessly infringe them, then what should I do? I am a helpless person. As a filmmaker, you invest in a movie and especially a guy like me, I don’t come from Bollywood. I am from the Indian film industry. I don’t make movies that are sponsored by corporates. So, for me the whole game is very different; it’s about my livelihood and survival. It has been a huge financial impact on my career and that is the reason I had to approach the legal body.” 

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Besides direction, Suneel Darshan has also produced films like Haan Maine Bhi Pyaar Kiya and Andaaz. In his career, he has mostly worked with Akshay Kumar, Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol.

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