regarding ownership of copyright

The deceased has not left any Will for succession, then the legal heirs of the deceased can claim rights over the copyright in question.

Dear Chaitri,

Thank you for your query! I am Aadil and I will try to answer your question.

The short answer to your question would be the producer of the cinematographic work.

The laws and regulations relating to copyright in India are contained in the Copyright Act of 1957. The same act defines a copyright as an exclusive right to do or authorise to do an act like that of reproducing, copying, performing, translating, adapting, etc., of any literary, dramatic, musical, or artistic work, and can even include a computer programme. 

Chapter IV of the same act deals with the ownership of the copyright and rights of the owner, under which, section 17 states that the first owner of a copyright shall be the author of the work. As per section 17(a), an exception to this is given, if the work in question was created during the course of employment at any publishing company for the purposes of the publishing company, the first owner of the copyright of the work shall be this company. Subject to this provision, section 17(b) states that the first owner of the copyright in the case of a cinematographic work shall be the person who provides valuable consideration for the creation of this work, unless any agreement stating otherwise exists.

Therefore, unless there is any agreement that states the first owner of the copyright of that work, the producer shall be deemed as the first owner of the copyright.

I hope this helps. Thank you for your time and patience!

Regards,

Aadil