Originally Posted by
mahendra raj
Hi Gopal,
You will not believe this - KB's 'Aboorva Raagangal' story theme was probably lifted from a local Malay film entitled ' Keluarga 69' which was released in 1967! The Malay film was comedic as the title implies (69 Family) as the figures '69' means topsy-turvy. It had the top Malay actors of the day and ran successfully for its unusual comedic story. If I am not mistaken, KB was sued in the court of law by the 'original' author from Tamil Nadu which story appeared in one of the weeklies in Tamil Nadu. After a protracted hearing the court ruled in favour of the original writer and KB was directed to pay ten times the equivalent sum the former received from the magazine. And the original sum? A paltry sum of Rs 30 and multiply this by ten you get Rs 300! The original writer commented that he was not bothered about the paltry compensation but was glad that truth prevailed in the end. This also brings to my mind when Sridhar was sued for plagiarizing the story of 'Nenjam Marapathillai' and the judge ruled that it is pure coincidence that two men think alike. That was how we felt about 'Aboorva Raagangal' and 'Keluarga 69' same story-line issue.
Sorry again for the digression.