Days after the Madras High Court imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on director Shankar for not appearing for a hearing on a criminal suit related to copyright of his movie Enthiran, the court posted the case for a final hearing on September 28.
According to reports, Aarur Tamil Nadan, an author, the petitioner in the case, filed a suit in the court in 2010 claiming that it was based in his novel published and registered in the year 1996. The case was against director Shankar, Kalanithi Maran, the Managing Director of Sun Pictures Limited, and Sun Pictures Limited.
In his petition, Tamil Nadan stated that he wrote a story on a robot – Jugiba, which was first published in a Tamil magazine named ‘Iniya Udayam’ in April 1996. Later in 2007, it was published as a novel, Thik Thik Theepika. The storyline was registered on January 1, 1997, and protected under the provisions of Copyright Act.
The petitioner then went on to say that he was shocked to note that the movie Enthiran was copied from his story and has sought damages to the tune of Rs 1 crore from Shankar, Kalanithi Maran and Sun Pictures.
The matter came up for hearing on Thursday and the petitioner informed the court that the criminal suit was pending for eight years and prayed for a speedy redressal by ordering damages to the tune of Rs 1 crore. Justice Nirmal Kumar posted the case for its final hearing on September 28.
On September 3, the Madras HC had imposed a fine on director Shankar for failing to appear in person on a civil suit related to the same movie.
Enthiran, starring Rajinikanth, Aishwarya Rai, Danny Denzongpa and many others, was released simultaneously in three languages – Tamil, Hindi and Telugu – in 2010 and enjoyed box office success. It was the most expensive Indian movie to be made at that point in time with an estimated budget of Rs 1.6 billion.