Man seeks stay on Vikram movie

CHENNAI: A civil court has issued notice to four parties, including actor Vikram, on a petition seeking an interim stay on the shooting of the film, ‘Karikalan’. The matter is set to come up on January 12 at the 15th assistant city civil court.
The petition was filed by K Rajashekaran alias K S Nagaraj, proprietor of M/s GSR Vinmeen Creations, who said he had the “pre-emptive rights to the title and the story” of the film.In his petition, Rajashekaran said he had completed a threeyear course in music after his schooling and went on to compose music for television serials, programmes and documentaries.
While in class 12, he said he became interested in the history of the Chola emperor Karikalan, who built the first dam in the country. In 1991, he began working on a script based on the king’s life. After meeting several associates in the film industry and getting advice from a few producers, the petitioner said he registered the title of the film in 1994 with the South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce. At the launch of his music album, he had announced plans to produce a movie on Karikalan, Rajashekaran said.
He said he had spent Rs 10 lakh mobilising funds for the project, and had worked on posters and music.
However, hecould not proceed due to financial constraints. The petitioner said he was not allowed to renew his registration in 2006.
Hearing that a film on the same subject was being made, he approached the South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce for action but there was no response, the petition said. Maintaining that he had ownership over the story and that it amounted to theft if anyone used it, the petitioner said he had lodged a complaint with the police commissioner on November 24, 2011 on the grounds that the film makers had stolen the title and story of the film.