We were the first to report that Suresh Gopi will be playing a character named Kaduvakkunnel Kuruvachan in his 250th film. Recently, Jinu Abraham, the scriptwriter of the upcoming Prithviraj-Shaji Kailas project, Kaduva, moved to court alleging the story of the Suresh Gopi film has similarities to his script of Kaduva. The writer made the claim after seeing the motion poster of the Suresh Gopi film which has a script by Shibin Francis to be directed by Mathews Thomas. However, screenwriter Renji Panicker has rubbished these claims. A film on Kaduvakkunel Kuruvachan, a real-life figure, was envisioned by Renji years earlier for a project titled Vyakhram, which was supposed to be directed by Shaji Kailas and starring Mohanlal.
“Kaduvakkunnel Kuruvachan is not a fictional character. He is someone who still lives in Pala, Kottayam. It was after a conversation with him 20 years ago that I felt his life would be apt for a movie adaptation. Back then Shaji Kailas and I had planned to do this film together,” said Renji.
Elaborating on this further, Renji added that the idea was revived when Shaji contacted him last year to tell him about a new project on Kaduvakkunel Kuruvachan. “He asked me if I had any objection to doing a film based on this character and, since it was Shaji, I okayed it. It’s been a long time since Shaji made a film, and if this is a reason for him doing a film, I was particular that my claim shouldn’t get in the way. I’m still particular about it.”
Renji said Kaduvakkunnel Kuruvachan is not a character created by anyone else, as mentioned in the claims which he called “baseless”. “Its copyright and other legal formalities are something for the courts to consider. That’s an issue which needs to be sorted out by these two scriptwriters. “Anyone has the right to make a film on Kuruvachan. But Kuruvachan was created and named by me.” Renji wishes for the debates to be resolved amicably. “For the time being, let me just say the claims you heard of are false.”
This copy was originally published in https://www.cinemaexpress.com/