The makers of the Tamil film Anbuselvan, which earlier caused a stir when Gautham Vasudev Menon stated that he was not part of the project despite the first-look poster prominently featuring him, went ahead and released another poster of the film on social media on the occasion of Pongal, recently. While the makers claim their differences have been resolved, Menon continues to deny being part of the film.
In November, a poster of Anbuselvan was released featuring multiple images of Menon holding a gun with the tagline, “The Cop Devil.” The poster mentioned that the film is directed by one A Vinoth Kumar and produced by M Magesh under Seventy MM Studios banner. It was widely shared on social media. Menon soon took to Twitter and denied being part of the film. He further said that he had no idea what this film he was supposed to be acting in was and had not even met the director listed on the poster.
Following this, Silverscreen India had reached out to Magesh, who told us that Menon was well aware of the project and had even participated in a 15-day shoot for it in 2019. The film, the producer said, was initially titled Vina (‘Question’) but later changed to Anbuselvan, which was communicated to the lead actor Menon as well. Magesh also said that the film’s original director Jai had been replaced with his associate, Vinoth Kumar, which Menon was displeased about and alleged that the filmmaker-actor was creating an issue due to this.
With no resolution publicly announced, on Friday, the makers released the new poster of Anbuselvan featuring Menon, with editor Praveen Antony, cinematographer Ganesh, and music director Pathmayan listed as part of the crew. The poster was released by actor-producer RK Suresh, vice-president of the Tamil Nadu Film Producers Council (TFPC).
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Speaking to Silverscreen India after this poster’s release, Magesh said the TFPC had intervened in the issue and asked both parties to cooperate and complete the film. “The whole controversy was due to Jai, who played a foul game between us and Menon and caused a communication error. Jai had used money meant for the film for his personal use, and GVM was unaware of communication from my side about the consequent unwanted delays,” he explained. “After the issue was taken to the producers council, they got us an assurance from GVM that he will provide us his dates by the end of January to finish Anbuselvan since he is now done with his film starring Simbu (Vendhu Thanindhathu Kaadu).”
Magesh further said that Vinoth will be helming the project and this was made clear during the arbitration as well. He also shared with us a letter issued by the TFPC stating that the council grants the makers permission to advertise the film.
However, the new poster was not shared by Menon and on Saturday, the filmmaker-actor’s manager, Preethi, spoke to us and declared once again that he is not part of Anbuselvan. “He had only agreed to do the film titled Vina, directed by Jai. They have used the Vina footage to create the new film. He is never doing a film called Anbuselvan,” she stated.
When informed about this, Magesh, on Monday, said that he would escalate the issue to the producers council. He also added that Menon should address the matter openly. “GVM himself spoke to me about two weeks back in the presence of industry elders and assured that he would give us dates and finish Anbuselvan. This seems like foul play to delay the film. I have as much rights to change the title of my film, as he did for Vendhu Thanindhathu Kaadu. I will address the media in a couple of days about this and if the problem persists, this may get escalated and result in a red card being issued.”