Kamal Hassan Denies Plagiarism Charges Against Uthama Villain

Kamal Hassan has denied the plagiarism charges against his forthcoming film Uthama Villain. There were reports that the first look of the Tamil flick was inspired by a photo taken by French photographer Eric Lafforgue

"Theyyam is a more than a 1,000-year-old art. The make-up was done by a good artist, who is probably a third generation practitioner of this art. The lighting might have been similar," the IANS quoted Kamal Hassan as saying.

Kamal Hassan argues, "It is like saying two lovers - one leaning on another's chest looking in the same direction is a copy of the Ek Duje Ke Liye poster."

The Universal Star says that Uthama Villain has Theyyam dance fusion with Tamil Nadu's Kooththu tradition. He claims that the painting part on his face was not a cake walk. He said, "That is not a mask. It is painted on my face. It took 4 hours to paint my face. It is a tradition passed on from many generations."

The story of the film is about the life of a superstar, who makes a comedy film called Uthama Villain.

Uthama Villain is directed by Ramesh Aravind. It is produced by Rajkamal International and N Lingusamy's Thirrupathi Brothers.