Pa Krishnamoorthy, an associate of actor-director Parthiban, who had claimed rights to the story of the Jayam Ravi-starrer Comali, is unhappy with the way he’s been credited in the film.
Ahead of the film’s release, last week, Krishnamoorthy approached the Writers’ Union accusing Comali director Pradeep Ranganathan of plagiarising his story. The union, headed by Bhagyaraj, compared his script with that of Ranganathan’s and concluded that the two films, in fact, had the same story.
According to a report in Dinamalar, Krishnamoorthy’s name appears only for a few seconds in the beginning of the film. Ishari Ganesh, the film’s producer acknowledges him as the writer in the title card, and says, “This story of a person who wakes up from coma is an old one. It is the story of Comali and is the same as Pa Krishnamoorthy’s script. The Writers’ Union has informed us about this. Since Krishnamoorthy registered his story with the union five years ago, we acknowledge him as the writer of this film and congratulate him. We accept the Sangam’s decision on the matter and thank them for helping us reach a conclusion.”
Director Pradeep’s ‘card’, which appears next on screen, says that the premise of the film is common and does not belong to anyone. “The story of a man waking up from coma after years has been used time and again in films such as Honest Raj (KS Ravi), Kill Bill (Quentin Tarantino), Kickin’ It Old Skool (Harvey Glazer) and Good Bye, Lenin! (Wolfgang Becker). The directors of Senthil’s characters in films and Friends Aravindan are other examples. This is an old idea, and I thank the directors who understand that and don’t claim rights to the story. I also have no pride in saying that this story is mine.”
Speaking to Silverscreen, Krishnamoorthy said, “I just found out about this. The Writers’ Union called me and said it was wrong to not credit me wholeheartedly. A twelve-member body in the Writers’ Union, headed by a renowned director like Bhagyaraj, would not have decided in my favour if they thought only the premise of both stories were the same. This is a story about what happens to the protagonist after he wakes up from coma, and that has been plagiarised.”
He added, “Despite agreeing to credit me, the filmmakers have not kept their promise. There is no readability on the card with my name in the film. And the content of the credit that I was told was going to appear is entirely different from what appears on screen.”
Krishnamoorthy, who is currently busy with work on Parthiban’s Oththa Seruppu, says he does not want to take up the matter with the Writers’ Union any further. “I thank the union and Bhagyaraj for being just on their part, and also producer Ishari Ganesh for acknowledging me in the credits,” he said.
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Krishnamoorthy has been working with Parthiban since 2006. He said in an interview last week that the script to his film, titled 25+25=25, was registered with the Writers’ Union in 2014, and that he had planned to direct the film with Parthiban but it could not go on floors immediately. He also said that his friends recently brought the teasers and trailer of Comali to his attention, following which he approached the Union and the makers of Comali also agreed to abide by the Union’s decision.
The film was initially announced with Pradeep Ranganathan as the writer and director, and released on August 15. It is a comedy-entertainer starring Jayam Ravi, Yogi Babu, Kajal Aggarwal, Samyuktha Hegde and others.