CHENNAI: As the controversy over Vijay-starrer Kaththi’s story being stolen by director A R Murugadoss from an aspiring filmmaker fuelled outrage, the Tamil Nadu Film Directors Union has decided to take action. TANTIS president Vikraman announced on the sidelines of a function that from now on, members of the body can register scripts with them.
“There has been a lot of talk and discussion about this in the past few days, so we have made an important decision. To protect the rights and work of all directors, they can register their scripts with us directly,” he said. This resulted in a rousing cheer from a crowd consisting mostly of struggling directors and those who have been peddling scripts to producers for ages.
Through a series of detailed interviews and essentially a smear campaign, Gopi Nainar has won a lot of public sympathy, with his claims that he met, spoke with and submitted a fully-loaded script to Murugadoss — which has now been released as the blockbuster Kaththi. This, despite the fact that the Madras High Court struck down Gopi’s case in September, citing lack of evidence.
Murugadoss has maintained a sporadic silence, only responding so far as to claim that he has never met Gopi and that it is an extortionist ploy.
The only rider Vikraman posed was, “However, it is only for directors who are actual members of the union.” The barb was aimed at a number of assistant directors and young filmmakers who have not bothered to pick up their subscriptions nor take active part in the activities of the film body.
Vikraman said, “There are lots of people who have scripts but do not take the trouble of registering them with the Screenwriter’s Association. This will be easier for them. We are looking for the right person to handle this and after that we will begin,” he said. When asked if it would be legally binding, he asked, “How is it any less valid than the Screenwriters Association?”