Superstar Rajinikanth has finally responded to the controversies surrounding his upcoming movie "Lingaa". Recently, a Madurai based film maker Ravi Rathinam claimed the Rajini starrer to be a rip-off of his 2013 film "Mullai Vaanam 999".
Ravi had filed a writ petition accusing the makers of "Lingaa", including Rajinikanth of having stolen his film script based on the life of Colonel John Pennycuick, a British engineer, the brain behind the construction of the Mullaperiyar dam. He alleged that the makers have stolen the script after he uploaded it on YouTube last year.
The case became more sensational on Wednesday when Rajinikanth filed a counter affidavit at the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court claiming the petitioners' allegations false. He said that the case against "Lingaa" tarnished the name, fame and the repute enjoyed by him.
He also added that there are umpteen numbers of stories based on the nationalisation on rivers and rivulets and the petitioner cannot claim copyright over such a topic.
"As regards the petitioner's reference to Pennycuick, Mullaperiyar and the subject of nationalisation of rivers and rivulets, I respectfully state that there are umpteen stories and articles revolving the same and the petitioner apparently seems to have erroneously concluded that he has a copyright over such a topic," said the affidavit filed by the actor.
The actor also added that a copyright case can be filed only if there are a minimum of 13 continuous shots in a feature film that are similar to the other story that is claimed to be authored by the petitioner.
Earlier, director KS Ravi Kumar had denied the rumours and had filed a counter affidavit on Tuesday explaining that the script of "Lingaa" was written by S Ponkumaran of Chennai, who had registered himself with the South Indian Film Writers' Association in 2010 under the title 'King Khan'. He also said that the movie's screenplay was done by him, adding a few original elements.
The director also claimed that the story of "Lingaa" is not published anywhere and it would be baseless to file a copyright infringement case against it by just watching the trailers and added that the move is to harass the makers of the movie and force them to give a ransom for it.
