NEW DELHI: Acclaimed Malayalam filmmaker Sanal Kumar Sasidharan has accused the makers of the blockbuster film Thudarum, starring Mohanlal and directed by Tharun Moorthy, of plagiarising the screenplay of his unreleased project Theeyattam.
In a detailed Facebook post, Sasidharan alleged that the core structure of Thudarum closely mirrors that of Theeyattam, which he wrote in 2020. The filmmaker claims that the plot of his script, which revolves around an auto-rickshaw driver named Ambi who is falsely implicated in a murder case, has striking similarities to the storyline of Thudarum.
“I saw the movie Thudarum. It’s made by stealing the skeleton of my screenplay Theeyattam, which I wrote in 2020. The core of it remains untouched perhaps because the makers lacked the intelligence to grasp it or deliberately rewrote it in an unrecognisable way,” he wrote.
Sasidharan pointed out what he believes is a significant "slip-up" by the Thudarum team the inclusion of a distinct dialogue from his script that he says had no contextual relevance in the film. The proverb in question, “Konnaal paapam thinnaal theerum” (loosely translated as “the sin of killing is absolved by eating the victim”), was, according to him, lifted directly from Theeyattam.
“Even expert thieves, skilled at stealing without leaving a trace, can slip up due to their whims. The use of this dialogue was one such mistake,” he stated.
The S Durga director also claimed that he had pitched Theeyattam to prominent Malayalam actors including Manju Warrier, Tovino Thomas, and Sudheer Karamana. While the project was shelved for unknown reasons, Sasidharan said all of them had read the screenplay and might have since forgotten it due to the passage of time.
He announced that he would be publishing the full screenplay of Theeyattam on Facebook, inviting the public to judge the similarities for themselves.
“Five years is a long time. They may have forgotten the story. I will be posting my screenplay soon for all to see,” he concluded.
Sanal Kumar Sasidharan is best known for his critically acclaimed films S Durga, Chola, and Vazhakku.
Meanwhile, Thudarum has proven to be a major commercial success, grossing over Rs 150 crore worldwide despite being a minimal-budget production.
