Yes, the Tamil remake of the Malayalam super hit movie is in trouble big time as director Sathish Paul has filed an injunction with the Ernakulam district court asking the remake to be stopped and the court has, as of now, asked that the proceedings regarding the production of the movie to be suspended!
Satheesh Paul claims the original Malayalam version is a rip off of his book Oru Mazhakkalathu, which is also about a husband trying to cover up a crime done by his family. He claims the film’s makers have used scenarios from his book without even changing them.
Hence, he has filed a case of copyright infringement against the director Jeethu Jospeh, producer Antony Perumbavoor and the distributors of the original, Aashirvaad Cinemas.
What’s puzzling is how come it took Mr Paul so long to realize the movie is based on his book, if indeed it is as he claims, given the fact that the movie came out in late 2013 and was then declared the biggest hit in Mollywood history and later took second place to Bangalore Days. Also, Telugu and Kannada versions of the movie were made, which turned out to be successes as well, and so this delay in filing a case seems odd to the average viewer is all.. and maybe a bit opportunistic?
Now, this lawsuit comes in the wake of Ekta Kapoor’s lawsuit against the makers of the Malayalam version of Drishyam claiming it is based on a book she owns the film rights to – a Japanese book by Keigo Higaashino titled The Devotion of Suspect X.
However, Jeethu Joseph who was preparing to direct the Tamil version as well, has slammed these allegations down, stating outright that Drishyam is an original script and not based on any book, in any way.
Anyways, it remains to be seen now what happens to the Tamil remake which has Kamal Haasan in the lead and has been making news for weeks now. Man, some movies just can’t seem to catch a break.
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