The XIII Metropolitan Magistrate, Egmore, has issued summons for the appearance of the director and the producer of the film ‘Enthiran' on June 24 in connection with a complaint, alleging that they had committed offences under the Copyright Act and accusing them of cheating.
In his complaint, Aarur Tamilnadan of Royapettah here stated that he wrote a short story, ‘Jugiba', which was published in a Tamil monthly magazine, ‘Iniya Udayam', in April 1996. The story was popular and appreciated by thousands of readers.
In 2007, the same group of publishers published the same story in the book ‘Thik Thik Theepika'. It was sold at bookstalls and exhibitions. The government also purchased the book for its libraries.
Recently, S. Shankar of T. Nagar directed the film ‘Enthiran' in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi. It was produced by Kalanithi Maran, managing director, Sun Pictures Private Ltd.
The complainant said that the story of the film was nothing but ‘Jugiba' written by him and published. Only a few scenes and songs had been added to embellish the film.
The complainant alleged that the director and producer had committed piracy of his story. He was the first owner of copyright.
Mr. Tamilnadan said that he submitted a complaint to the city police. It was treated as closed. The police did not give anything in writing. Because of the “influential background” of the director and the producer, the police were reluctant to register a case against them.
Hence, the present private complaint.
