Sivakarthikeyan starrer Hero has now been removed from Amazon Prime, the OTT platform on which it was streaming, based on plagiarism charges. Directed by PS Mithran of Irumbu Thirai fame, the film hit the screens last year. Before the release of the film, aspiring director Bosco Prabhu had accused director PS Mithran of plagiarising his story to make the film. Bosco had claimed that he had registered his script under the title Vetri on April 26 2017, with the South Indian Writers' Association.
The Madras High Court has now issued an interim injunction against the film. The court has banned the film from being aired on television and OTT platforms. Following this, OTT platform Amazon Prime has removed the film. Sun TV that had bought the satellite rights of the film had planned to premier it on television on May 1. This has now been put on hold.
Before the film's release, director K Bagyaraj of the Writers’ Union sent out a press note to PS Mithran that the core plot of Hero and the story by assistant director Bosco Prabhu were the same. Distraught over plagiarism allegations on his film, director PS Mithran pointed out that the members of the union should have compared the screenplay and not the core plot as done now.
He also shared that he has given credits and remuneration to three people for working in Hero and there was no need for him to use someone else’s story without giving them due credits. After this, Bosco filed a case against the makers and the director.
The film had hit the marquee on December 20 last year to cash in on the Christmas holidays and is receiving mixed reviews at the box office. Pairing up with Siva in Hero are two heroines Kalyani Priyadarshan and Ivana with Arjun, Vivek and Robo Shankar forming the supporting star cast. KJR Studios bankrolled this venture, George C Williams and Ruben were in charge of the film’s cinematography and editing respectively and Yuvan Shankar composed music.
(Content provided by Digital Native)