Copyright Row On Shankar-Ranveer Film

A day after Shankar and Ranveer Singh film was announced flamboyantly, here comes a shocker the filmmaker. Shankar has been sent legal notice by V Ravichandran of Aascar Films, who own the rights of 2005 Tamil film  Anniyan, which has been dubbed in Telugu as Aparichitudu.

The producer has issued a lengthy note in which he said that he has bought the film rights from Tamil writer Sujatha. He had directed Shankar to stop the Hindi remake rights. His statement reads, “The entire story rights were purchased by me from the writer Sujatha (alias late Rangarajan) for which full payment was done by me to him and necessary records are also available. I am the whole and sole owner of the rights of the storyline. As such, any such adoption or remaking or copying the main plot of the said movie, without my permission, is totally illegal”.

The producer further states that it was he who gave Shankar opportunity to bounce back after the deback of Boys in 2003. Stating that, the note reads, “It is a sorry state of affairs that you have conveniently forgotten the same and without even informing me, you have tried to reap the accolades of my successful movie ‘Anniyan’ by associating yourself and an adaptation of the Hindi version of the same. I am sure you always maintain certain ethical values, hence I wonder how you can stoop to a low level by resorting to such unlawful acts. You are hereby advised to immediately stop proceeding any further on the same, due to the illegal copying of the storyline for which the entire rights are held by me,”

Meanwhile, Shankar is yet to respond on the legal issue. The Hindi remake is backed by Dr Jayantilal Gada under his banner Pen Studios and the film is said to go on floors next year, 2022. It may be recalled that Shankar earlier faced issues with Lyca Production in connection with Indian 2 who rued that the filmmaker left the film halfway and announced pan-Indian film with Ram Charan tentatively titled RC15.