Exclusive: L Suresh On Shankar's Anniyan Controversy

The writer of a film does not have the right to sell a story of the film unless there is an agreement with the producer on the story of the movie. L Suresh of the South Indian Chamber of Commerce said in the Anniyan case, director-writer Shankar does not have the right to remake the film in Hindi.

Suresh spoke to a Filmibeat source, saying, "In the olden days - and especially writers like Salim-Javed- they would have the rights of the story of the film. For example, the film Don, which was made with Amitabh Bachchan and the story rights of the film were only given to the producer for the Hindi language."

"When Don was being made in south Indian languages, the production house had to buy the remake rights from Salim-Javed. So unless the story writer specifically mentions in the agreement, the rights of the film will belong to the producer of the film," he adds.

As in the case of Anniyan, there has been no particular agreement between the producer Ravichandran and writer-director of the film Shankar, informs Suresh. According to him, the usual practice is that the producer is the one who sells the rights of a film and as courtesy can share about 30 percent of the proceeds with the story writer. But bearing in mind the writer cannot sell the rights and pay part proceeds."

L Suresh also informs that the conciliation committee of the South Indian Chamber of Commerce has received the complaint from the producer of Anniyan. He says, "We have asked Shankar to come with the proof, if any, about the film at a meeting along with the producer and will try to arrive at an amicable settlement between both the parties."