The Madras High Court on Tuesday (September 3, 2024) issued notices to noted film director Atlee, production house AGS Entertainment Private Limited and its managing director Archana Kalpathi in a case involving alleged theft of the script of the 2019 film Bigil, starring actor Thalapathy Vijay. A division bench comprising Justices M Sundar and R Sakthivel ordered issuance of notices on the petitions filed by screenwriter Amjath Meeran to excuse the delay of 73 days in filing three appeals against the rejection of his three petitions by a single judge. The petitioner told the court that in 2019, when the Tamil film was released, he had filed a civil suit in the Supreme Court seeking a declaration that the script of Bigil belongs to him. He had requested that an agent be appointed to ascertain the amount of “copying/theft” allegedly committed by the respondents. Alleging that a screenplay he wrote titled Brasil was stolen to make Bigil, the petitioner had also requested that the respondents be ordered to pay him an initial compensation of 10 lakh plus further compensation at the discretion of the court.
In 2023, the petitioner had filed three motions asking the court to admit additional documents as evidence in his suit and to place on record a certificate issued in 2015 by the Writers Guild of America (West) for his screenplay. The petitioner also requested permission to submit further oral evidence in support of his suit. He told the court that the 2015 certificate was extremely important to prove his case, but he could not produce it in 2019 as he did not have it with him at that time.
Atlee, meanwhile, filed a joint counter statement to all the three applications accusing the plaintiff of filing the suit with false, self-serving and fabricated statements. He alleged that the suit was filed only to extort money from him.
The director said the three applications could not be allowed after the hearing was over and the trial was ready for the start of the final arguments. He said the applications were filed only to fill the gaps in the evidence. Atlee also said that he had registered a 65-page script of Bigil with the South Indian Film Writers’ Association on July 4, 2018 and then registered a 242-page detailed script with screenplay and dialogues on October 4, 2018 before starting shooting. He said the film written and directed by him was initially tentatively titled Vaathiyar and then Thalapathy 63 before finally being released as Bigil on October 26, 2019. The director stated that the plaintiff rushed to the court immediately after the trailer was released.
When asked why the 2015 certificate was not produced when the suit was filed in 2019, Atlee said that the plaintiff’s name was not found on the website of the Writers Guild of America (West) and hence the authenticity of the certificate itself was questionable. In their joint affidavit, AGS Entertainment and Ms Kalpathi told the court that admission of additional evidence by the plaintiff would delay disposal of the case and that he should not be allowed to abuse the process.
After hearing all the parties, Justice P Velmurugan on 8 April 2024 allowed all three applications on the condition that the plaintiff shall pay costs of Rs 1 lakh each to Mr Atlee, AGS Entertainment and Ms Kalpathi on or before 25 April and report on compliance on 26 April.
On learning on 26 April that the costs had not been paid, the judge dismissed all three applications, resulting in the filing of the present appeals, along with applications to excuse the delay of 73 days in filing.
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