Deepa’s plea to stay web series, biopic on Jaya dismissed

In a relief to the makers of the web series Queen and the biopic Thalaivi based on the life of the late actress and former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, the Madras High Court on Thursday refused to stay the release of the screen projects. However, the judge sought the makers to carry disclaimers.

Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy, before whom the plea moved by Jayalalithaa’s niece J Deepa seeking to stop their releases came up for hearing on Thursday, disposed the petition off after setting aside her submission that they should not be released without her permission as they would adversely affect her privacy.

The judge refused to accede to Deepa’s request based on the submission from counsels appearing for the web series’ director Gautham Vasudev Menon and under-production film Thalaivi’s director A L Vijay that both the works were based on a book to which Deepa had not raised objections.

Menon’s counsel submitted that the web series was shot based on a work of English fiction titled ‘Queen’ that was inspired by the life of Jayalalithaa and that it is in no way connected to her life. Moreover, there is no reference to Deepa, he said. He also submitted that nearly Rs 25 crore had been spent on producing the serial, in which actor Ramya Krishnan plays the lead character.

The counsel appearing for director Vijay submitted that the film Thalaivi is neither intended to degrade nor humiliate Jayalalithaa, but to inspire people about how the former CM fought against all odds ingrained in a male-dominated society.

He also submitted that the film was based on a book titled ‘Thalaivi’, and that Deepa had not objected to the copyright registration obtained on numerous books about Jayalalithaa. Also, noting that Thalaivi had a huge star cast and international technicians had been engaged at big costs, the counsel argued that Deepa had no locus standi to seek a restraining order since she was a “stranger” to Jayalalithaa’s life and had shot into prominence only after her death.

The web series is due for premiere on Friday. In Thalaivi, Bollywood heroine Kangana Ranaut is playing the lead and shooting is set to be held at several locations in Chennai, Mysuru and Hyderabad.