CHENNAI: The Madras High Court directed the South Indian Film Writers’ Association to inquire into the story theft allegation over Sivakarthikeyan’s Parasakthi and submit a report by January 2.
Directed by Sudha Kongara and produced by Aakash Bhaskaran under the banner of Dawn Pictures, Parasakthi is scheduled for release on January 10.
KV Rajendran, an assistant director, has filed a petition before the HC seeking a ban on the release of the film, alleging that the film was made by stealing his story titled Chemmozhi. In his petition, he stated that he had written Chemmozhi’s story based on the anti-Hindi agitation of 1965, and registered it with the South Indian Film Writers’ Association in 2010.
He alleged that while working as an assistant director for the late former CM Karunanidhi’s film Pen Singam, he had narrated the Chemmozhi story to him. Since doctors had advised him to take rest, Karunanidhi had asked him to write it down later and also appreciated the story.
Rajendran claimed that after registering the story in 2010, he narrated it to several producers. Producer Salem Dhanasekaran allegedly gave the story to actor Suriya, who in turn passed it on to director Kongara.
“Later, a film titled Purananooru, said to star Suriya, was announced and that was based on his Chemmozhi story,” he said. “That project was dropped, but the same story has now been made as Parasakthi. Despite filing a complaint with the association in January alleging that Parasakthi had been made by stealing my story, no action had been taken so far.”
Therefore, he sought an interim injunction restraining the release of the film and requested that an expert committee be appointed to compare Chemmozhi and Parasakthi.
Hearing the petition, Justice SM Subramaniam said both stories must be thoroughly examined to determine whether they were the same, and issued notices to director Kongara, the producer and others connected with the film, directing them to file their replies by January 2.
The judge also directed the association to inquire into the complaint by hearing all parties concerned and to submit a report.