Producer Dil Raju has received relief from the Supreme Court in the long-running copyright dispute involving the Prabhas-starrer Mr Perfect.
The Supreme Court refused to lift the stay on proceedings pending before a Hyderabad trial court. The stay was granted in February 2025 after Dil Raju challenged the Telangana High Court’s decision allowing the copyright case to continue.
Writer Mummidi Shyamala Rani filed the complaint in 2017, alleging that Mr Perfect was made by copying her novel Naa Manasu Korindi Ninne, published by Sahithi Publishers in August 2010.
A trial court had issued notices in 2018 under Section 420 of the IPC and Section 63 of the Copyright Act. Dil Raju later approached the High Court, which dismissed the cheating complaint under Section 420 but allowed the proceedings under the Copyright Act to continue.
He subsequently moved the Supreme Court in February 2025. The court stayed the trial court proceedings while examining whether the complaint was filed within the time limit prescribed under Section 468 of the CrPC.
During the latest hearing, Shyamala Rani’s lawyer requested the court to remove the stay, citing the writer’s age of 71 and seeking permission for the trial to continue.
The bench, headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant, declined the request. It observed that the stay had been granted after considering the arguments from both sides.
With the Supreme Court refusing to lift the stay, the trial court proceedings against Dil Raju will remain on hold.
