Suriya-Mohanlal’s upcoming film Kaappaan has run into trouble just weeks before its release on September 20. The Madras High Court on Monday heard a petition filed by John Charles, a film writer, in which he has claimed that director KV Anand’s Kaappaan is based on his story ‘Saravedi’.

In his petition that was filed on August 20, John says that he presented the story for copyrights registration at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion in Delhi with his application dated 20.09.2016 and that the same was registered in 2017.

John goes on to allege that he had narrated the story to director KV Anand during the first week of January 2017 and that he has been waiting for a response since. Having watched the teaser on August 2 this year, John claims that he was surprised by the story’s similarity to his own.

He claims that in ‘Saravedi’, his hero, a reporter, questions the Prime Minister on sharing river water and says that in Kaappaan, too, the hero poses the same question to the PM. Based on his observations from the teaser, he alleges that the film and his story are based on the same plot - farmer’s welfare and interlinking of rivers.

The petitioner, who claims to have 10 years of experience in the field of cinema, television, media and digital communication, has accused the makers of plagiarism.

Seeking for an interim injunction on the film’s release, John has requested the court to order the plaintiffs (director and producers) to pay him copyright fees in addition to displaying his name as the film’s writer.

Justice Krishnaswamy, who heard the case on Monday, scheduled the next hearing on September 4. Kaappaan by director KV Anand is being produced by Lyca Productions. The film stars Suriya, Mohanlal, Arya and Sayeeshaa in important roles.