Whose Hero is it, anyway?

The battle for the title

Hero

continues in Kollywood. Back in March this year, two Tamil films were announced with this title almost on the same day, one with Vijay Deverakonda, a sports thriller directed by Anand Annamalai, the co-writer of Kaaka Muttai, and another starring Sivakarthikeyan, directed by Irumbu Thirai fame

PS Mithran

.

The makers of the Vijay Deverakonda film, which includes Kaaka Muttai director M Manikandan, had claimed that they had registered the title first with the Tamil Film Producers Council (TFPC), on July 4, 2017, and have been renewing it every year since then. Meanwhile, the Kotapadi J Rajesh, the producer of the Sivakarthikeyan film, said that he had bought the title from music director SS Kumaran, who had also bizarrely managed to get it registered in the TFPC, on August 2018.

Despite this confusion, the poster of Sivakarthikeyan’s Hero was released on September 2, and this has prompted Tribal Arts, the production house behind the Vijay Deverakonda film, to send a legal notice to Rajesh’s KJR Studios, urging them to refrain from using it as the title of their project, and warning them that they would go to the court if the latter fails to do so.

Speaking to us, Anand Annamalai says, “Our stand has always been clear. We had registered the title first, and since we are making the film in five languages (Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam and Kannada), we do not intend to change our film’s title. When we raised the issue with the TFPC following the announcement of the other film, they gave it to us in writing that we had registered it first, and that they would ask the other team to opt for a different title. We also have a copy of the letter that was sent to them, on April 16, 2019, signed by SS Durairaj, who was the honorary secretary of the body then. Even the ad hoc committee that has been formed following the dissolution of the previous office bearers is supporting our claim.”

He also rubbishes rumours, which were reported in July, that his film has been shelved. “We have completed two schedules and will be finalising our third schedule in the next 15 days,” he states.
Meanwhile, Rajesh maintains that he has neither received the letter sent by the TFPC nor the legal notice from Tribal Arts. “No legal notice has come. How can they send legal notice? They are talking about people who are not there in the council at all. They can use the title wherever they want, but not in Tamil. I am prepared to meet them in court,” he says.