Manoj's Mr Nookayya Screening Halted by Delhi High Court

His movie may or may not hit bull’s eye at the box office, but Manchu Manoj sure managed to grab the attention of the media and others with his latest release.

On Friday morning, multiplexes across the city received a legal notice (a copy of which is with Hyderabad Times) directing them to stop the screening of “Mr Nookayya”,
earlier titled “Mr Nokia”, which became a major point of contention with the cellphone company, Nokia Corporation & Nokia India Pvt. Ltd.

The company had filed a suit for permanent injunction at the Delhi High Court against the use of its registered trademark (in this case, the title Nokia) and recovery
of damages to the tune of `20,05,000 against the producers of the film.
An order passed on February 6, 2012 by the Delhi High Court restrained advertizing of any sort of the film and the use of another title identical or deceptively similar (phonetically, structurally or visually) to “Nokia”.

Despite the ruling, the makers of the film changed the title of the movie to “Mr Nookayya” and went ahead with their planned release. It was then that the company approached the Delhi High Court again, which passed the order on March 7, a day before release, to stop screening of the film.

While city multiplexes received copies of the Court notice and duly stopped the screening of the film, lead actor Manchu Manoj couldn’t help but rant against the cell phone giant for stopping the screening of his film.

Taking to his micro blogging site, the actor posted: “Good morning guys Nokia company is trying to stop our movie in all multiplexes (they r claiming nookaiah and nokia is same…(sic).

Later during the day, at a press conference called by the makers, the actor adopted a mocking tone towards the whole issue. “I didn’t know that a company called Nokia exists. We use Blackberrys, Samsungs, iPhones,” said the actor.

Reacting to the Delhi High Court’s ruling to stop screening of the film, Manoj said, “If the ruling was passed by the AP High Court, it would have made some sense, but not if it’s passed by the Delhi High Court. I think the corporate system in the country is good. They
should work towards progress and not try to sabotage our films.

And finally, taking a potshot at the cellphone giant, Manoj said, “I request Mrs Nokia to tell Mr Nokia, that I’m not the real Mr Nokia, but I’m Mr Nookayya which happens to be the name of a God.