The trouble for Rajinikanth-starrer Lingaa , scheduled for release on December 12, seems to be far from over as an aspiring film-maker, who alleged theft of his script for making the movie, filed a writ appeal in the Madras High Court Bench here on Friday challenging the dismissal of his writ petition by a single judge on Wednesday.
The appellant, K.R. Ravi Rathinam, contended that the single judge should not have dismissed his writ petition, seeking a police inquiry into the alleged theft, on a technical ground without considering the contradictory statements made by Mr. Rajinikanth and the film’s director, K.S. Ravikumar, in their counter affidavits with respect to the script and screenplay of the movie.
He pointed out that the actor had asserted that both the script and screenplay for Lingaa had been penned by S. Ponkumaran. On the contrary, Mr. Ravikumar had claimed that it was he who wrote the screenplay for the basic storyline of Mr. Ponkumaran. Nevertheless, the single judge dismissed the case on the ground that High Court’s writ jurisdiction could not be invoked to resolve a private dispute.
“The learned judge has failed to appreciate the contradiction affecting the root of the contesting respondents’ case wherein the counter affidavits of the actor and the director are totally against each other,” the appellant said in his grounds of appeal. He contended that the contradiction itself was a sufficient ground to order an inquiry to get at the truth.
He stood firm in his claim that the film crew had indeed stolen a script written by him and uploaded it on YouTube last year for making a movie titled ‘ Mullai Vanam 999’ and sought an interim stay on releasing Lingaa until the writ appeal was disposed of. The appeal is expected to be listed for hearing before a Division Bench of Justices V. Dhanapalan and V.M. Velumani on Monday.
Staff Reporter from Chennai adds:
A junior script writer has claimed ownership of the script of Lingaa and has requested a city civil court to halt the release of the film.
The XIIth city civil court Judge, R. Govindarajan, has ordered notice to Mr. Ravikumar and three others.
The petitioner, P. Sakthivel, said that he wrote a story ‘ Uyir Annai ’ in 2011 based on life history of Colonel John Pennycuick, a British engineer behind the construction of the Mullaperiyar dam. He registered the same in Film and Television Producer’s Guild of South India in 2012.
Hence, he prayed for a permanent injunction. He also wanted an Advocate Commissioner to compare his draft with that of the movie. The case has been adjourned to December 9.
