Martin copyright strike: Why is there an online uprising against Dhruva Sarja’s film?

Dhruva Sarja’s first release since 2021’s Pogaru, the action-thriller Martin, finally hit theatres a few days ago, after an inordinate delay in its making. Based on a story by Dhruva’s uncle, actor Arjun Sarja, Martin was directed by AP Arjun, who launched the former in Addhuri and was produced by Uday K Mehta. It was in direct competition with Superstar Rajinikanth’s Vettaiyan at the box office and got off to a positive start in theatres on the strength of Dhruva’s fan base.

What's with the Martin copyright strike?

However, after the very first show, the initial feedback that came about Martin was that the team floundered on an opportunity to make a good film. Reviews, not only for the Kannada original version but also the dubbed Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, and Malayalam ones, were overwhelmingly negative. The team, though, has chosen to ignore all of this and insists that the negativity is driven by the fanbase of another popular Kannada actor. They even had a success meet for the film on Day 3, offering no explanation for the same.

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As far as reviews go, they have gone to the extent of getting all negative reviews of Martin on YouTube removed with a copyright strike, irrespective of the reach of the reviewer. The affected parties, of course, have followed this up with further videos, detailing what’s happened and allege that team Martin is not only misusing the copyright act but also curtailing their freedom of speech. Some have also alleged that they have received threats from the actor’s fans.

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This is the latest from team Martin, which. Only days ago was embroiled in a legal battle between Uday and director Arjun, over the exclusion of the latter’s ‘brand’ name from all promotional material of the film. Arjun also faced allegations of receiving commission payouts from people involved in the VFX work of the film.