The District Court here, on Wednesday, issued an injunction order till May 31 staying the release, distribution and screening of the Mohanlal-Sreenivasan duo's much-awaited film ‘Oru Naal Varum' (A Time will Come) that was slated for release this Friday.
District judge M.P. Ismail issued the order on the basis on a petition moved by a teacher, K.V. Vijayan, of the Don Bosco Institute, Mukkom, here seeking a stay on the film as Mr. Sreenivasan had allegedly copied the original script penned by him long ago.
Summons have also been issued to Mr. Sreenivasan, scriptwriter of the film; T.K. Rajeev Kumar, director of the film; and Manian Pillai Raju, producer of the film, to appear before the court on May 31.
The petition was moved by Mr. Vijayan through M.K. Dineshan, N. Shamsudheen and P. Rejith Kumar, advocates, stating that film had been made based on the script he had presented to Mr. Sreenivasan last year. However, Mr. Sreenivasan had then rejected the script saying that it lacked comedy, Mr. Vijayan, who has earlier worked as assistant director in ‘Gulmohar,' directed by Jayaraj, said.
Mr. Vijayan also produced before the court a copy of the script that had been published as a book in February and a copy of Mr. Sreenivasan's interview that had appeared in a Malayalam film magazine narrating the story of the film. Only lately had he come to know that a film had been made based on his story. Several film magazines had come out with the storyline of the film that had a resemblance to his script, he said in his petition.
Mr. Sreenivasan had earlier run into a controversy after Sathyendran Poyilkkavu, a resident of Koyilandy, here, accused the actor of ‘stealing' his story for the hugely successful ‘Katha Parayumbol,' starring Mammootty and Sreenivasan. The success of the film, released in 2007, prompted film companies, led by top directors and actors, to remake the film into Hindi, Telugu and Tamil.
Mr. Mohanlal and Mr. Sreenivasan are coming together in ‘Oru Naal Varum' after a gap of six years. They had starred in the blockbuster ‘Udayananu Tharam' prior to this.
‘Oru Naal Varum' tells the story of a farmer who shifts to a city for educating his children. His troubles begin following his plans to construct a house.
