Kondurkar Studio Refutes W+K Credit Claims For Jindal Steel’s Film

One of the underwhelming conversations at the Cannes Lions 2024 for the Indian contingency remained the tussle between Wieden+Kennedy and Jindal Steel and Power over sharing credits for the ‘The Steel of India’ ad film, that bagged two Lions in the Film Craft category. 

The history of this dispute goes long back to when W+K took Jindal Steel and Power to court over the film's intellectual property rights. W+K requested recognition as the film's original creator and copyright owner in a petition to the Delhi High Court. The advertising firm brought up parallels between the finished film produced by Early Man Film and Kondurkar Studio and the visuals it had suggested.

It is to be noted that Early Man Film/Kondurkar Studio is identified as the entrant/idea developer on the form that was submitted to Cannes Lions and displayed in the winning sheet.
 
This gave fuel to plenty of debates already floating in the industry on who really owns a creative idea.

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Kondurkar Studio, in an official release, refutes the claims and informs, “Despite his (Mr Amrish Kondurkar's) commendable efforts, he and his studio are being unfairly targeted by a larger competitor in the industry, under the pretext of bizarre accusations of copyright infringement and lack of originality.”

“Kondurkar Studio developed this film based on the client's brief, aiming to bring alive the Indian resilience to land on the brand line of ‘The Steel of India’. The film, which signs off with ‘The Sound of India’, is entirely original. We had no prior knowledge of anything that the larger agency might have earlier shared with our client. It is worth noting that Kondurkar, our founder, left his previous role in January 2023, and our client reached out to them for a pitch in late July 2023, well after his departure, negating any overlap or claim of idea theft,” it further adds.

The brief was always to celebrate the power of steel and the resilience of India, explains the studio. Hence, any montage film on India & Steel will naturally portray these themes, “To claim copyright infringement on such a basis is not only baseless but also a stretch of the imagination. The allegations are supported by misrepresented screenshots that arrange shots from various sources to falsely suggest direct copying. However, a two-minute film is much more substantial than a few misleading screenshots added to create a narrative post-final film creation.”

The Delhi High Court, after thorough adjudication, found no wrongdoing on the part of Kondurkar Studio. The resolution highlighted broader corporate concerns rather than individual actions, validating their position that the campaign was independently and originally created by Kondurkar Studio.

The film created by Kondurkar Studio, brought to life by the director Ayappa from Earlyman Film, involved no collaboration or communication with the larger agency during its development. “It is therefore absurd for them to demand credit for a film they had no part in conceptualising or producing. The entire process from briefing the director, to sharing treatment notes, to conducting PPM, shoots, and post-production, was carried out independently by Kondurkar Studio and Earlyman Film,” it shares.