
Director Shankar, who has been embroiled in multiple controversies surrounding his upcoming films in recent times, is currently facing allegations of plagiarism. Chinnasamy, a production executive who works with producer RB Choudary, has recently filed a complaint with the South Indian Film Writers Association (SIFWA), claiming that the story of director Shankar’s upcoming film with actor Ram Charan, is plagiarised from him. Director K Bhagyaraj, President of SIFWA, confirmed to TNM that he has received a complaint. “Chinnasamy had approached us with the complaint. Talks are underway. We are trying to resolve the issue,” he stated.
Meanwhile, several reports stated that Sellamuthu, one of director Karthik Subbaraj’s former associates, has also levelled allegations of plagiarism. However, director Bhagyaraj states that Sellamuthu has not lodged a complaint with SIFWA. It is unclear whether allegations of plagiarism were also made against filmmaker Karthik Subbaraj by Chinnasamy and Sellamuthu. Director Shankar is gearing up for his next with actor Ram Charan. Tentatively titled RC15, the film is produced by Sri Venkateswara Creations.
Earlier, director Shankar had responded to producer ‘Aascar’ V Ravichandran, after he faced allegations of copyright violation by the latter following the announcement of the Hindi remake of Anniyan. Responding to Ravichandran, Shankar said that he is entitled to make the Hindi version. "Everyone associated with the movie was aware that the script and storyline belong exclusively to me and, in fact, the movie was released with the tag: Story, Screenplay and Direction by Shankar. I have not assigned writing any script or screenplay to any person, and continue to retain the right to exploit the script in any manner I deem fit. As the admitted author of the literary work, my rights cannot be interfered with under any circumstances,” Shankar had mentioned in the statement.
Shankar is also currently working on Indian 2, starring actor Kamal Haasan in the lead. Lyca Productions had filed a plea seeking to direct filmmaker Shankar to provide Rs 170.23 crore as security if he wanted to direct two films at the same time. However, the Madras High Court rejected the plea on July 2 this year.