Court stops Vijay's ATM

By: Settu Shankar
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
The Chennai High Court has stayed the shooting of Vijay starrer Azhagiya Tamil Magan (ATM) by at least four weeks from today. The major portion of this much-expected film is over with only 25 percent of shooting left to be done. It was scheduled for release on August 15. At this critical juncture, film producer M.F.Raja alias Mohammad Farooq has filed a petition against this project at Chennai High Court.

In his petition he stated: "In the year 2004 we planned a film and titled it as Enga Oorla Nadantha Kathai. The film was stopped after shooting 5000 ft rolls due to various reasons. After that we modified the story for actor Vijay and I sent Prem Nawaz, the director proposed for the project, to tell the story to Vijay's father S.A.Chandrasekaran. At that time, Vijay was also there and heard the story. Initially we titled the project as Guru Prasad.

Both were very much impressed by the story and promised us to give the call sheets. Soon after that, they instructed Prem Nawaz to tell the story to producer Appachan also. Prem Nawaz met Appachan without my knowledge and told the story. Appachan used the story for his next project with Vijay and titled it as Azhagiya Tamil Magan. Prem Nawaz changed his name to S.K.Jeeva and joined the crew of ATM as Story writer without my concern.

After knowing all these betrayals, I complaint the Tamil Film Producers' Council about this issue. The Council instructed the producer to give a compensation of Rs.5 lakhs to me. The producer gave Rs.1 lakh as advance and promised to settle the balance within few weeks. But they didn't give the balance even today. The Court must order the producer to settle the balance amount to me and stay the shooting activities of the film till they clear the dues."

After hearing the petition, Justice Jothimani has ordered the unit of ATM to stay all the shooting activities of the film for four weeks. The stay order was conveyed to Vijay yesterday evening and he was upset with the developments. He has asked the producer to settle the dues immediately to M.F.Raja to avoid further damage on the film. Sources said that the producer may settle the issue today itself.

What is the Story?

Meanwhile the story of Azhagiya Tamil Magan has leaked to the media. It is not a new story but the remake of American English film If only released in 2004. According to the story, Vijay has some extraordinary power to know the future through dreams. He saves many lives with the help of his dreams. But one day, he finds his last day in his dream. To save him from the dead end, another Vijay enters.