After months of fighting for his rights over the script of Mamangam, filmmaker Sajeev Pillai has finally been acknowledged as the rightful author by the Kerala High Court.
“That is correct, the court has accepted his authorship,” says advocate Sreekumar, who argued Sajeev’s case. “The reason is that even though the producer has bought the assignment from him – including the script, screenplay, story and dialogues -- the copyright can still retain the authorship. This was recognised by the court. But since it is the last day before the film’s release, the court said that an injunction will not be given. The movie is permitted to be released but with the rider that the producer has to file an affidavit at the High Court by 4.30 pm on Monday, stating that no name will be used to show who is the author (of the script).”
The producer has abided by the order and so Mamangam, a period film starring Mammootty, will release on Thursday as announced earlier. This means that neither Sajeev nor writer-filmmaker Shanker Ramakrishnan, who had taken over the script after Sajeev sold it, will be mentioned.
“This must be the biggest cheating that happened in Malayalam cinema. At least it has been recognised by the court,” says Sajeev Pillai, who had begun directing the film and also shot a few schedules before being replaced by filmmaker M Padmakumar, director of Joseph.
Sajeev had some differences with the producer of the film, Venu Kunnappilly, which could not be resolved even after the intervention of the film's lead star Mammootty. To resolve the issue, M Padmakumar was brought in, at first to associate with Sajeev, and Shanker Ramakrishnan was brought in to work on the script. Sajeev, who thought that these changes would primarily only be on paper, and that he would still be directing the film, soon discovered that he had no role to play anymore, and that decisions were made on the film without consulting him.
It is a script he worked on for 12 years, Sajeev has earlier told the media. It is a script that Mammootty wrote about on his Facebook as the best he has read in recent times.
“Substantially, what he has always been vying for was accepted by the court today – that creation and creativity have to be protected. But for Sajeev Pillai creating the story on his research and this being assigned to the producer, the movie itself would not have been born, had he chosen not to sell it, the court said. Its creativity is the most important aspect, going by the principles of the Copyright Act. Copyright is more concerned with protecting creativity rather than commercial exploitation on screen,” adds advocate Sreekumar.
Sajeev first went to a lower court on February 21. The High Court heard the case on Monday and said that the case is to be finished in six months' time at the lower court.