After nearly two years of controversy over the Malayalam script of Randamoozham, a compromise has been reached between writer MT Vasudevan Nair and director VA Shrikumar Menon, just ahead of the date the Supreme Court was considering the case.
According to the understanding reached between the two parties, Shrikumar will not make it a film and will return the script to MT. The author will have full rights over the movie and MT will return the amount of Rs 1.25 crore, which he got as advance from Shrikumar.
Shrikumar may however make a film on Mahabharatham, just not with the character Bhima in the lead.
The controversy began after a delay of over four years in starting the filming, since the contract was signed. The original contract was for three years and MT withdrew the script when the film failed to take off after four years. Shrikumar went to court requesting an arbitrator but this was rejected.
Shrikumar, an established ad filmmaker, made his first feature film Odiyan in 2018 with Mohanlal in the lead. Manju Warrier played the female lead.
Recently he announced a new film that he plans to do in Bollywood - Mission Konkan. Shrikumar said that it will have a Malayalam actor playing the lead, and the film will be based on the Mappila Khalasis tales. They are the traditional uru builders from Malabar region.
MT Vasudevan Nair, a doyen of Malayalam literature and a Jnanpith award winner, has written numerous scripts and also directed a few Malayalam films. He has won the National Award for Best Scriptwriter four times for films like Oru Vadakkan Veeragadha, Kadavu and Sadayam. Randamoozham is among the most notable works he has written, centering around Bhima. Other notable novels include Naalukettu, Manju and Kaalam.
Watch: Compromise reached between MT and Shrikumar