The makers of Kaduva, the upcoming Malayalam film starring Prithiviraj Sukumaran, were ordered by the Irinjalakuda Sub Court in Thrissur, Kerala on April 8 to suspend the film’s production and promotions after an NRI filed a complaint against the producer.
Kaduva, set to be directed by Shaji Kailas, is written by Jinu Abraham and produced by Prithiviraj’s home banner Prithviraj Productions and Listin Stephen for Magic Frames Company. The film centres around a character called Kaduvakunnel Kuruvachan, a native of Pala in Kerala.
According to a report by Onmanorama, Anurag Augustus said that in 2018, Jinu gave him the script of Kaduva in exchange of Rs 10 lakh. Jinu, however, gave the script to Kaduva’s producers without Anurag’s permission.
In October 2020, the Kerala High Court had banned actor-turned-politician Suresh Gopi’s 250th film, Ottakkomban, which is also based on Kaduvakunnel Kuruvachan while it gave clearance to Kaduva. The verdict came after Jinu had approached the Ernakulam District Court claiming that Ottakkomban was plagiarised from his film. The magistrate had asked the makers of Suresh’s film to stop all the work, and the high court restrained them from making the film.
Written by Shibin Francis, Ottakkomban was being directed by debutant Mathews Thomas and produced by Tomichan Mulakuppadam’s banner, Mulakuppadam Films.
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Listin was recently convicted in a cheque bounce case along with actor-politician Sarath Kumar and wife-actor Radikaa Sarathkumar. Along with the couple, Listin has been sentenced to one year of imprisonment and Rs 5 crore penalty.
Kaduva’s technical team consists of music by Thaman and Ravi K Chandran as the cinematographer. While Shameer Muhammed is serving as the editor, Mohandas is the art director. The film is expected to be a mass entertainer set in the 1990s. The film, originally set to go on floors in December 2020, came to a halt due to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, in March, Prithiviraj had shared that the film will begin shooting soon.
Silverscreen India tried to contact Jinu and Anurag for their comments, but they were unavailable.