All You Need To Know About Director Shankar And The 'Enthiran' Copyright Violation (Image-Instagram/lycaproductions)
Director Shankar has reportedly gotten himself under the scrutiny of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with his 2010 film Enthiran, starring superstar Rajinikanth and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. The director, who is facing charges of plagiarism and copyright violations, has assets worth more than Rs 10 crore attached under the anti-money laundering law, said the ED on Thursday.
The Enforcement Directorate, Chennai Zonal Office, has provisionally attached three immovable properties registered worth approximately Rs 10.11 crore under the name of the renowned director.
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The Case
On May 19, 2011, Tamil writer Aarur Tamilnadan filed a complaint (Case No. 2067/2011) against Shankar in the Metropolitan Magistrate Court of Chennai.
In his complaint, Tamilnadan alleged that the storyline of the blockbuster Enthiran was plagiarised from his short story titled Jiguba. Highlighting the similarities that the film and the novel shared, he accused the director of violating the Copyright Act.
Following the complaint, ED launched an investigation into the case, which also included the financial aspects of the film. According to the ED, Shankar received a “substantial” remuneration of Rs 11.5 crore for his contributions to the film, including story development, screenplay, dialogues, and direction.
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Later, the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) conducted an independent study on the case. The analysis found “striking” similarities between the film and the novel, including character development, structures, and themes.
The Metropolitan Magistrate Court-II, Egmore, issued a non-bailable warrant (NBW) against Shankar for repeatedly failing to appear in court regarding the case.
And now, after investigation, based on the substantial evidence, it has been determined that Shankar violated Section 63 of the Copyright Act 1957, a violation now classified as a scheduled offense under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), stated the ED.
According to officials, this is possibly the first attachment of assets in India under the PMLA on grounds of plagiarism or copyright violation while making a movie.
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Jiguba
Writer Aarur Tamilnadan’s Jiguba was originally published as a short story in a Tamil magazine, Iniya Udhayam, in 1996. Later, it was republished as a novel with the title Dhik Dhik Dheepika in 2007.
About Enthiran
Enthiran, directed by Shankar, was released in 2010 and stars Rajinikanth, Aishwarya Rai, Danny Denzongpa, Santhanam, and Karunas. The film merged to be a blockbuster, earning around Rs 290 crore at the box office. The screenplay and the dialogues were credited to Shankar and Sujatha.
The science fiction action film follows the story of a scientist named Vaseegaran, who creates a humanoid robot in his own image called Chitti. Enthiran explores the scientist’s attempts to teach the android human emotions, which inadvertently leads the robot to fall in love with the scientist’s girlfriend. The sequel to the film 2.O was released in 2018, with Rajnikanth reprising his roles as both Vaseegaran and Chitti.
