MUMBAI: The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has restrained the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce (KFCC) from taking any action directly or indirectly to prevent any exhibitor from showing the Hindi film Raavan and its Tamil version Raavanan in Karnataka.

Comments film producer and KFCC member Madhusudhan Reddy, "Expecting trouble from KFCC, Reliance Big Pictures had approached the court. The court, in turn, referred the matter to the CCI which passed a judgment in favour of Reliance Big Pictures. We will adhere to the CCI judgement."

Both the Hindi and the Tamil version would now be playing in 24 theatres in Mysore circuit, in all multiplexes.

It may be recalled that the releases of Raavan and Raavanan had run into rough weather with the KFCC restricting the release of the movie in both the versions to only 24 screens in the old Mysore distribution area of Karantaka.

Reliance Big Pictures had contended that since the project was in two languages and with a different star cast, it should not be considered as a single but as two movies. And, hence, it should be permitted to release the films in 24 screens each.

"Raavan is a hugely mounted film and we would like the KFCC to liberalise its policy of restricting the release in a fixed number of theatres in Karnataka," a letter from Big Pictures to KFCC had said.

But the KFCC turned down its contention and ordered it to keep it down to 12 for each language.