CHENNAI: It reads almost like the plot of the next superstar flick. Weeks after the latest Rajinikanth blockbuster, Enthiran , hit the screens worldwide, a Tamil writer claimed the copyright to the original story of the movie on Monday.
In a complaint to the Chennai Police Commissioner, Aroor Tamilnadan, whose nom de plume is Amudha Tamilnadan, said Enthiran ’s plot was lifted right out of a short story penned by him under the title Jughiba , which was first published in a Tamil magazine, Iniya Udhayam , way back in April 1996, and then again in a book, Thik, thik Deepika in 2007.
Producing copies of the printed text of both publications as proof, Tamilnadan urged the police to file a criminal complaint under section 63 of the Indian Copyrights Act.
He said he had watched Enthiran at a cinema theatre recently after his friends and readers called him up and said the plot of the film, released in movie halls on October 1, was a carbon copy of Jughiba .
In the film, his story had only been embellished with cinematic props like song sequences, fight scenes and graphics, he said.
Making a film based on a short story that appeared in a magazine registered with the Registrar of Newspapers of India amounted to violation of copyright, he said, and claimed that the makers of the movie had not approached him or the publishers of Iniya Udhayam for permission.
On the contrary, film director Shankar had made a false claim that he had thought about the story line for Enthiran in 1997-98, the writer said.
Tamilnadan said he had been penning verses since his childhood and his first collection of poems was brought out in 1983.
Since then, he had been a prolific writer and poet, taking part in various poetry fora.