MT Vasudevan Nair is currently embroiled in a legal battle with director Shrikumar Menon over the movie rights to his novel, Randamoozham. Nair says that he stipulated that filming must begin within three years. It has already been four years since the film rights were purchased and the movie is yet to go on floors.
Nair’s daughter went on social media to rebuke Shrikumar for commenting about the film while the matter was still pending in court. Shrikumar had recently said that he plans to begin work on the film soon.
Nair pointed out that commenting about the film is contempt of court.
“Randamoozham is a masterpiece work of my father Shri MT Vasudevan Nair and no one can make any claims on its rights as on date. We have filed the case in the court to get back the script and that is our priority,” Aswathy Nair wrote.
She also said that once the script has been given back, MT Vasudevan Nair will make a decision as to the director of the film.
Recommended
MT Vasudevan Nair announced his intention to withdraw from the film earlier this year. The author said that he was disappointed that the film had not gone on floors yet, even though a one-year extension was awarded to Menon and his team. He approached the Kozhikode Munsiff Court regarding this issue. The court barred Shrikumar Menon from going forward with the film as their agreement with Nair had lapsed. Nair even said that he was willing to return the advance amount he had recieved for the script. Menon, at the time, said that he was to blame for the delays and that he would personally apologise to MT Vasudevan Nair.
Randamoozham was announced last year with actor Mohanlal taking on the lead role. Filming was scheduled to begin in the United Arab Emirates in July 2019. BR Shetty was attached to the project as producer.
Nair’s 1984 novel is a retelling of the Hindu epic Mahabharata from the perspective of Bhima, one of the five Pandava brothers.
Image Courtesy: IndianExpress