Copyright Hiccup: Madras High Court allows release of Thillu Mullu 2

Image from here

First Bollywood, now Kollywood scriptwriters have started making use of the copyright act to restrain release of remakes based on claims of authorship of original scripts. Whether these claims turn out to be true is still to be seen but most claims have been unsuccessful at the interim injunction stage thereby failing to prevent release of the films (e.g. Bombay Talkies, Nautanki Saala, Chashme Budoor). 

In Kollywood, Thillu Mullu-2, starring Shiva, Prakash Raj, Santhanam and Isha Talwar, faced a last minute copyright hiccup with veteran film maker Vishu (M Vishawanathan) filing a suit to restrain Vendhar Movies and the producer of the film, from releasing the same. 

As reported, Vishu contended that he was the author of the script of the original Thillu Mullu (starring Rajnikanth). According to Vishu, Thillu Mullu 2 was a remake of the original Thillu Mullu and contained the same screenplay and dialogues. He sought to restrain the release of Thillu Mullu 2 as the producer of the film had not sought his permission in using his screenplay/dialogues for the remake. 

The court (as reported), however, relied on the affidavits of the Director (R Badri) and Balagurunathan (a partner in Vendhar Movies) which stated that the screenplay of Thillu Mullu-2 was written by Badri and the dialogues were written by Balaji. It was further stated that the movie Thillu Mullu was itself a remake of the Hindi movie Golmal (1979). 

On the basis of these statements the court held that the screenplay and dialogues were completely different from Vishu’s Thillu Mullu and hence denied an injunction on the release of the movie. This case is posted for final hearing in July.