Filmmaker Shankar issues clarification on non-bailable warrant issue

Filmmaker Shankar has issued a clarification after multiple reports on Monday claimed that a non-bailable warrant had been ordered against him for repeatedly failing to appear in court in connection with a plagiarism case. In a statement, Shankar said that he was shocked to learn about the arrest warrant.

Shankar said in his statement that his advocate was informed on Monday that the warrant had been issued due to a glitch in the online court reporting system.

Shankar’s statement read, "My advocate Mr Sai Kumaran has approached the Hon’ble court today and brought this to the Court’s attention. The Learned Judge was pleased to immediately confirm that no warrant has been issued against me. The reference to any warrant has apparently occurred due to a glitch in the online court reporting, which is presently being corrected (sic).”

In 2010, writer Arur Tamilnandan filed a petition against Shankar alleging that his highly successful film Enthiran (2010), which starred Rajinikanth and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, was similar to his story, Jugiba, which was published in the magazine Iniya Udayam in April 1996. He claimed that the story was republished in 2007 in a novel, Tik Tik Deepika.         

In 2019, the Madras high court refused to dismiss the case at the behest of Shankar’s counsel after it found that both stories had 29 similarities. However, Shankar had claimed he had written Enthiran before Jugiba was even published.

Shankar is currently busy shooting for his upcoming his magnum opus Indian 2 (2021), the sequel to the highly successful vigilante action-drama Indian. The film stars Kamal Haasan.