Legal notice to the superstar!!

By: Settu Shankar
Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Chennai City Civil Court ordered issuance of notice to the superstar Rajnikanth, director Shankar, and producer AVM Saravanan on a suit by a Chennai resident who has claimed that the story of the actor's film 'Sivaji' was actually written by him.

Shivaji, the magnum opus of Rajinikanth, has rewritten the history of Tamil box office and has created many new records worldwide. The film is now nearing its 100 th day in many centers across the globe. At this juncture, A. Elangovan, an assistant director who filed the suit, sought to restrain Rajnikanth and others from alienating any rights, including audio, video, overseas rights, dubbing, and remaking of 'Sivaji'.

After viewed the petition of Elangovan, the 13th Assistant City Civil Court Judge A. Nazeer Ahmed ordered a notice, returnable by 21 September, to Rajnikanth, Shankar, and AVM Saravanan.

Elangovan told in his petition that he had scripted a story and sent it to director Shankar and Saravanan on 12 October, 2005. He also sent the same through registered post with acknowledgement due. However, the letter sent to Shankar was returned with a note 'refused'. When he opened it, he found somebody had taken out the original script and replaced ordinary white papers. After the release of Shivaji, he saw the film on 20 June, 2007 and was shocked to note that the story of the movie was copied from his original story.

Elangovan has also sought for hefty compensation from the actor, the director, and the producer.