The Madras High Court on Thursday dismissed the plagiarism case filed against Suriya-Mohanlal’s upcoming film Kaappaan by John Charles, a film writer. In his petition, filed just a few weeks ago, John had claimed that director KV Anand’s Kaappaan is based on his story ‘Saravedi’. With the court's order, the uncertainty over the film's release date has now been cleared.
Kaappaan’s producer Lyca Productions presented their side of the case when the petition came up for hearing by Justice Sathish Kumar on Thursday. In addition to arguing that their film’s story is not related to ‘Saravedi’, the response petition filed by director KV Anand also stated that he has never met John in person.
In his petition that was filed on August 20, John had alleged that he had narrated the story to director KV Anand during the first week of January 2017 and that he was waiting for a response since. The petitioner, who claims to have 10 years of experience in the field of cinema and television, sought for an interim injunction on the film’s release. John had also 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.
In his petition, John had drawn a few similarities between his story and the film’s teaser. He had claimed 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 alleged that the film and his story are based on the same plot - farmer’s welfare and interlinking of rivers.
Kaappaan’s trailer was released recently and the film is gearing up for release on September 20. The Telugu version of the film has been titled Bandobast, and will also hit the screens on the same day.