Even as the
Thalaivi
team has begun to get appreciation following the release of the second look of
Kangana Ranaut from the
Jayalalithaa biopic yesterday, another controversy has broken out over the film.
Ajayan Bala, a well-known writer in the
Tamil film industry, who has been part of films like Manidhan, Chennaiyil Oru Naal and Nethraa, has accused
director Vijay
of backstabbing him and not giving him credit for the work he has done on the film. Interestingly, he had worked with
Vijay on films like Lakshmi and Diya.
In a Facebook post that he has now deleted, Ajayan Bala wrote, "Even though I have faced betrayal in cinema many times, I'm not able to come to terms with the insult that has been heaped on me through the film Thalaivi. The team won their case in court with the help of a novel that I had written following painstaking research for six months, but have now removed my name from the credits entirely. The reason: I requested them to remove certain scenes that were included for commercial reasons, but were untrue and demeaning to the leaders. I allowed various losses and betrayals from director Vijay for the sake of our 10-year-long friendship. But I'm not able to accept this time. This backstabbing is the result of the one-and-a-half years I spent on the film, from research to script discussions. Even day before yesterday, I'd spoken to Vijay, and he did not open his mouth about this then. He might have silently been glad about the insult that was in store for me. I think they might not pay me my rightful dues because I've posted this. I request my fellow writers to not work with anyone, even if they are friends, without proper agreements in place."
Curiously, a few hours later, the writer deleted the post. Sources say that the production team had reached out to him following his publishing of the post, and has offered to mediate with him over this issue tomorrow.