Director Sukumar was caught in the eye of the storm with a writer claiming that it is a plagiarized work. M Gandhi, in his complaint to the Telugu Film Writers Association alleged that Rangasthalam is copied from his Ukkupaadam.
In his reply to this allegation, Sukumar came up with a written statement which was submitted at the Association. Denying the plagiarism charges leveled against him, he wrote, “ Sukumar has written a long letter to the Telugu Writer's Association. "Neither I nor my producers (at Mythri Movie Makers) have ever met Gandhi. As such, there is no way that we could have lifted his ideas.The element of the hero saving first and killing the villain later is entirely my idea. I was inspired by the film Dharma Yuddham in writing the scenes. In the said film, the way the hero punishes the villain has deeply influenced me. When the villain is too powerful, or when none can give him just desserts, or when he is too influential, the victim becomes the judge and the jury," Sukumar explains in the letter ” Well, with the director openly acknowledging that he was inspired by the hit Tamil movie, it now needs to be seen what writer M Gandhi has to say.
Rangasthalam, starring Ram Charan Teja and Samantha Akkineni as the lead pair, released in March this year and has turned out to be a massive hit. The film has joined the 100 crore club indicating that it is a massive success.
Devi Sri Prasad had composed music for this venture with Rathnavelu cranking the camera and Navin Nooli editing it. Rangasthalam is bankrolled by Naveen Yerneni, Y. Ravi Sankar and Mohan Cherukuri under the banner Mythri Movie Makers and was distributed by Ram Charan’s Konidela Production Company.
While Ram Charan and Samantha played the lead pair in it, the star cast also included Jagapati Babu, Aadhi Pinisetty, Anasuya Bharadwaj, Naresh, Rohini, and Prakash Raj.
Well, with the written statement, director Sukumar seems to have put an end to all the allegations on him but will writer M Gandhi give an explanation about Ukkupaadam now that the film was released much later that Dharma Yuddham?
(Content provided by Digital Native)