Dasavatharam in trouble again!

By: Settu Shankar
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
The court verdict against the film Dasavatharam is sure to disappoint Kamal Hassan fans.

Kamal Hassan is known for years for his sincerity, hard work and novel efforts in making good movies for cinema lovers. He is now engaging in a mega project Dasavatharam, one of the biggest-budgeted movies after the superstar Rajinikanth's Shivaji. The producer of the film Ravichandran of Oscar Productions has revealed that the film has cost him Rs.48 crores including Kamal's salary. It is on the verge of completion and the release date has been fixed for August 15 on the occasion of our Nation's Independence Day.

When the producer started the film, Senthil Kumar, an assistant director filed a case in Madras High Court against the project and claimed the copy right for the story of Dasavatharam. He claimed that Kamal Hassan had stolen his story that he narrated to him in his office. He also contended that he had enough documents and evidence to prove his charges against the legendary actor.

But after two hearings, the Court has dismissed the petition of Senthil Kumar and gave a clean chit to Kamal and his crew to go ahead with the script. Later, Kamal blasted saying that it was a big conspiracy planned by an 'experienced writer' in the Industry against him. But he didn't reveal the name of the writer.

After a month, Senthil Kumar approached the High Court with a fresh petition seeking ban on the film. In his petition he stated, I have enough evidences to prove that the story of Dasavatharam is exclusively mine. Last time the court dismissed my petition without proper enquiries. But still I have the evidences with me and I am ready to produce those document any time. He pleaded the court to show Dasavatharam at least once in the Court Hall before the release. If the story of the film differed from his, he will withdraw his petition.

After going through the petition, the Bench comprising The Chief Justice A.B. Shah and Justice Jothimani ordered both the petitioner and defender to translate their scripts in English and submit them to the court within a week. 'A cheap technique indeed'!

However, the petitioner Senthil Kumar alleged that Kamal and the producer Ravichandran are trying to threaten him with the announcement of the channel rights awarded to Kalaignar TV, a Channel owned by the ruling party. He told this correspondent, 'the producer has recently announced that the channel right of the movie has been sold to Kalaigner TV for a record price. After smelling my moves to seek ban against the film through the court, the actor and the producer are using the cheap technique to threaten and prevent me from all my activities. But I will never lose my heart and hope the final verdict will be awarded in my favour.'

We have been trying to know the version of the actor over the issue but his PRO said that the actor would not like to comment on this issue. Senthil Kumar has appealed to the people not to take hasty decision on the issue. He added that the court would decide the real culprit.