Madras HC notice to Sun Pictures, South Indian Film Writers' Association over Sarkar story dispute

The Madras high court has ordered notices to be issued to Sun Pictures, the producers of director AR Murugadoss's upcoming film Sarkar (2018), featuring Vijay in the lead, and the South Indian Film Writers' Association in connection with a case filed by assistant director Varun Rajendran against Murugadoss.

Varun Rajendran, in his plea before the court, alleged that the story of Sarkar had been copied from his story Sengol, which he has registered with the South Indian Film Writers' Association.

Justice Sundar, who heard the plea, ordered notices, returnable by 30 October, to Sun Pictures as they had filed a caveat, urging that their opinion be sought before arriving at a decision on any matters pertaining to Sarkar, and also to the South Indian Film Writers' Association, which has issued a letter confirming that the story of Sarkar is indeed a replica of the story of Sengol.

However, the judge refused to grant a stay on the release of the film as sought by assistant director Varun in his plea. Varun had urged the court to stay the film's release until he was given credit for the story and also a sum of Rs30 lakh for copyright infringement.

This is not the first time that Murugadoss has been accused of plagiarism. Most recently, he was accused of plagiarism by writer-director Gopi, who claimed that the story of Murugadoss's Kaththi (2014) was actually his.