Mysterious crime thriller "Theevram," starring young star Dulquer Salmaan, opened to mixed response from the audience and critics alike. The film is now being dubbed in Tamil as "Aaththiram." However, the movie's director Roopesh Peethambaran has now revealed that he wasn't aware of the development and calls it a "cheap stunt" by producer VC Ismail.
"Jus now got to know that Theevram is dubbed into Tamil as 'Aaththiram'!! Well, this is done without my knowledge and without my consent, anyways it was a cheap stunt by Producer V.C Ismail [sic]," Roopesh, who made his directorial debut with the Dulquer-starrer, wrote on his Facebook page.
Through the recent Facebook post, Roopesh has also said that he is not planning to get into any legal battle, but warns other filmmakers to be careful in associating with Ismail in future. The Tamil dubbed version of the movie has been uploaded on the YouTube page of Mishri Tamil Movies and the "You Too Brutus" director calls it "pathetic to the core".
"As per the law, the producer might have the rights to dub the movie into other languages, but the Tamil version would have been better if we all had associated for it. The movie could have been done in a better way with good promotion and quality just the way Dulquer and Nithya Menen are promoting the Telugu dubbed version of '100 Days of Love.' After all, there should be a law that states that a movie can be dubbed into other languages with the consent of director and writer as well. However, the producer destroyed the movie by making it the worst dubbed version," Roopesh told International Business Times India.
"Ismail has even informed one of the crew members of 'Theevram' to ask me to remove the Facebook post saying he will file a character assasination case against me. But I have decided to go forward. I even got a call from filmmaker Vineeth Sreenivasan who supported me to fight against it," Roopesh said. "I can imagine how heartbreaking it must be for u.. Still wondering how he pulled it off without ur consent. It's big time fraud," Vineeth commented on Roopesh's Facebook post.
"Since it's a waste of time I am not getting into any legal battle!! But it's worth sharing bcos i really hope nobody makes a movie with V.C Ismail in future, even if it's a Z grade film!! But have to say that the Tamil version of 'Theevram' is pathetic to its core!! Thank you V.C Ismail for screwing up the publicity when it was released in Malayalam and now finally the Tamil version, Kudos!! Sahayichillagilum upadravikyaandu onnu irunnude !!!Please share to the maximum so that every aspiring film maker will keep away from V.C Ismail !! [sic]," reads Roopesh's Facebook post.
A reliable source close to Dulquer has told IBTimes India that the actor was also not informed on the movie being dubbed into Tamil. "I didn't know this was being dubbed," Dulquer is said to have informed the source.
In "Theevram," Dulquer plays of an aspiring young musician who becomes a mysterious saddist killer after his wife was murdered. The movie also stars Shikha Nair, Sreenivasan, Vishnu Raghav, Riya Saira, Vinay Forrt and Anu Mohan in significant roles.
Interview with Roopesh Peethambaran
Meanwhile, Roopesh, who made his career as an actor in Bhadran's superhit movie "Spadikam" in 1995 as Mohanlal's childhood character Thomas Chacko, is currently busy with his comeback film "Oru Mexican Apaaratha," starring Tovino Thomas. The Tom Emmatty-directed campus movie, set in 1970's, narrates the story of how the students established the political party Students Federation of India (SFI) in Maharajas College in Ernakulam.
Here's "Aaththiram" full movie here:
