Shankar responds to claims by Anniyan producer: ‘script, story is mine’

Filmmaker Shankar and producer Aascar Ravichandran disagree over the Hindi remake rights of the Tamil film Anniyan. A day after producer Ravichandran threatened to take legal action if Shankar went ahead with plans to remake Anniyan in Hindi, the filmmaker responded in a statement that he exclusively owns the right to the script and the story of the film.

On Thursday evening, Shankar released a statement in which he responded to allegations by producer Ravichandran about the Hindi remake of his film Anniyan.

In a statement, Shankar wrote: “I am shocked to receive your mail dated 14.04.2021 stating that you own the script for the film Anniyan. In this context, I submit that the film was released in 2005 and everyone associated with the film was aware that the script and the script are mine exclusively and in fact the film was released with the tag: Story, Screenplay and Direction by Shankar. I have not assigned any scripts or scripts in writing to anyone and I continue to retain the right to use the script in any manner I deem appropriate. As a recognized author of the literary work, my rights cannot be infringed in any way.

Shankar went on to say that the late writer Sujatha was only involved in writing the dialogue for the film and had nothing to do with the story.

“Sujatha was not involved in any way with the script, script or characterization, and there is no scope beyond her engagement as a dialogue writer. Since the script is mine, I have every right to use it in any way I see fit. In fact, you / your entity do not have the right to remake or create derivative rights for Anniyan, as such rights have not been granted to you in writing. In the absence of any written assignment from me, there can be no basis for even asserting that the script is yours. “

Shankar pointed out that Ravichandran had benefited greatly from the success of Anniyan, released in 2005 and starring Vikram, Sada and Prakash Raj in the lead roles.

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“You needlessly try to enrich yourself unjustly even in my unrelated future endeavors. Needless to say, I can only hope that common sense will prevail over you after this clarification and that you stop making such baseless claims. This response is issued without prejudice, and to clarify the real situation of me as a director and writer being the subject of such avaricious and illegal allegations in an unnecessary attempt to jeopardize my future plans, ”Shankar added.

Shankar was criticized on Wednesday for teaming up with Ranveer Singh. He said in a tweet that only he could star in the film.