A few days ahead of the audio launch of Vikram-starrer Thaandavam (on August 15), an assistant director has filed a complaint with a film body against the film crew for using his story.
Ponnusamy, an assistant director, had recently filed a complaint with the Tamil Nadu Directors’ Union against the crew of Thaandavam, claiming that the script of the movie was his and had been used without his permission.
FEFSI president Ameer, who is also the directors’ union secretary, confirmed to City Express that a complaint of such a nature had been received and said the persons concerned had been asked to reply soon. “Only after listening to their side can we decide the next course of action,” he said.
Ponnusamy, however, didn’t want to comment on the issue and told City Express he was waiting for justice from the union.
When contacted, south head of UTV Motion Pictures Dhananjayan — which is producing the movie, agreed that Ponnusamy met him in August last year. “He narrated a story he had written, but I told him we had already heard of a similar story in July,” he said.
Dhananjayan seems to have even told Ponnusamy to drop the idea of making his story into a movie, as UTV had decided to produce the script they heard. “It’s all a coincidence. The plot of our movie and his story are similar, but the screenplay will be different. Ponnusamy has claimed that his ideas have been used in Thaandavam, after just seeing the trailer,” he said.
The producer also said the Directors’ Union would listen to both scripts within two days.
Vikram plays a visually challenged person who can echolocate in Thaandavam, which the filmmakers said was inspired by American echolocation expert Daniel Kish.