Director and producer Gautham Menon seems to have had a fall-out with young filmmaker Karthick Naren.
Karthick is currently working on Naragasooran, a film that Gautham Menon is producing. However, all is not well. A few days ago, Karthick had put out a cryptic post on his social media pages which suggested that someone had broken his trust and had taken him for a ride. "The last thing you want to see is your passion getting butchered from all directions or a mistake you did not commit!" he'd added.
Sometimes a misplaced trust may kill you. People should think twice before taking it for a ride. The last thing you want to see is your passion getting butchered from all the directions for a mistake you did not commit. Threshold!
— Karthick Naren (@karthicknaren_M) March 26, 2018
The post made plenty of people speculate that he was referring to Gautham Menon. On Tuesday, however, it became clear that the spat was indeed between Karthick Naren and his producer.
Gautham Menon shared a video made by Fully, attacking Karthick with a commonly used sexist phrase - 'grow a pair': "While some young filmmakers whine about their passion getting butchered instead of growing a pair, here's a young team that makes an interesting short about girls, women, cricket, CSK and liberation."
https://t.co/6whl3aEczn
— Gauthamvasudevmenon (@menongautham) March 27, 2018
While some young filmmakers whine about their passion getting butchered instead of growing a pair, here’s a young team that makes an interesting short about girls,women, cricket, CSK and liberation.What a https://t.co/dseipSKVrF very nicely done!
Karthick Naren was quick to respond to the jibe in the same vein. He retweeted Gautham Menon's stinging message with "While everybody advised against it I had the pair to trust you & collaborate sir. In return we were treated like trash & made to invest on our own. I think its better to whine & confront instead of running away. Please don't do this to any other young filmmaker sir. It hurts!"
While everybody advised against it I had the pair to trust you & collaborate sir. In return we were treated like trash & made to invest on our own. I think its better to whine & confront instead of running away. Please don't do this to any other young filmmaker sir. It hurts! https://t.co/05b4v7eSXg
— Karthick Naren (@karthicknaren_M) March 27, 2018
In an interview to Sify, Karthick Naren said, "When I signed Naragasooran for Gautham Menon sir, everyone asked to reconsider my decision. But I had immense faith and admiration in Gautham sir and we started the shoot. Though Gautham sir’s Ondraga banner is associated with Naragasooran on paper, he hasn’t invested anything into our project. What really hurt me is that he has gone ahead and borrowed money pledging my film (Naragasooran) and invested in his own films —Dhruva Natchathiram and Enai Noki Paayum Thota. The main issue now is that Gautham sir has to settle the remuneration of Arvind Swamy sir and other actors. Though Arvind sir is sweet enough to dub the film for me, I don’t want to take him to be taken for granted”.
Karthick also added, “I invested all the money that we earned from Dhuruvangal Pathinaaru in Naragasooran and when Ondraga Entertainment says that they are associated with my film, they shouldn’t back out but in reality, they haven’t spent anything for us. Naragasooran is actually funded by Badri Kasthuri sir’s Shraddha Entertainment and me, but financiers who gave money to Gautham Menon are targeting our project. When we tried to reach Gautham through phone calls and messages, he didn’t have the courtesy to respond so I had no other option. Someone has to bell the cat”.
Naragasooran stars Arvind Swami, Shriya Saran, Sundeep Kishan, Indrajith and others.The film's production began in the latter half of 2017 and it was supposed to release in May 2018.
Karthick Naren had earlier said that it was the second in the D16 trilogy. The first film, Dhuruvangal Pathinaaru, which marked his debut, went on to win critical acclaim and did well at the box-office.
Gautham Menon has been accused of starting projects and taking a really long time to complete them. A Facebook page titled 'Unofficial: Gautham Vasudev Menon' even keeps track of how delayed his projects like Dhruva Natchathiram and Enai Nokki Payum Thota are!
With the young director and the producer of the film slugging it out publicly, it remains to be seen what will happen to Naragasooran. The teaser had set up expectations and it will be disappointing if the film doesn't make it to the screens.
The people who made the Fully video, at any rate, have received more attention with the spat.
Thank you guys for fighting with the link of our video XD https://t.co/xX6J3sxqZ2
— Kishen das (@kishen_das) March 28, 2018
Meanwhile, the Tamil film industry is continuing with its strike against DSPs and has refused to reconcile to the new terms offered by them unlike the other three south Indian film industries. Shooting has also been stopped although a few films have received special permission, raising questions among other producers about the 'partiality'.