The Bengaluru city, civil and sessions court on Wednesday put the release of a web series on Veerappan on hold after his wife V Muthulakshmi approached the court seeking an injunction.
In an affidavit filed in court, Muthulakshmi said that the makers of the web series were trying to portray the late forest brigand in poor light. She urged the court to place a permanent injunction on the release of the web series claiming that the makers of the series had made false statements and highlighted some details about her marriage to Veerappan.
"We had filed a suit seeking a stay on the release of Veerappan : Hunger for Killing in any form - OTT, YouTube etc - and the court has granted a stay. We have highlighted the right to privacy and here, there is an invasion of privacy. We don't have an issue with the filmmaker making a movie based on public records but he has said that he wants to bring out the truth of Veerappan," said Praveen Gowda, the lawyer representing V Muthulakshmi.
Kannada filmmaker AMR Ramesh is making 'Veerappan : Hunger for Killing', a web series on Veerappan which has actors Kishore and Bollywood star Suniel Shetty in major roles. Ramesh, who has previously made Attahasa, also based on Veerappan, makes films based on historical events.
Prior to Attahasa's release, the film was challenged in a Chennai court. The case went up to the Supreme Court where a compromise was reached with the makers of the film for a compensation amount of Rs 25 lakh.
The injunction comes at a time Muthulakshmi's daughter Vidhya Rani is preparing for the assembly elections in Tamil Nadu this year. Vidhya is the vice-president of the BJP's youth wing after joining the party's Tamil Nadu unit in February 2020.
The filmmaker AMR Ramesh will not be able to release the web series on Veerappan on YouTube or an OTT platform until at least the next hearing in this case scheduled for February 6.