Article by Sreedhar Pillai..
From protests to plagiarism charges: Despite controversies, Kaththi reaps gold at box office
The Tamil film Kaththi (Knife) starring popular star Vijay and directed by hit maker AR Murgadoss ( Ghajini and Holiday in Hindi) has been embroiled in controversies even before the release. Just before release, a little known Tamil outfit carried out a campaign against Kaththi as its producers, Lyca Productions, was alleged to have business links with Sri Lankan President, Mahinda Rajapaksa.
After days of suspense the film which got a U certificate from the censor board hit the screens on Diwali day (22 October) after the producers agreed to remove Lyca from the film's banner.
Thanks to the raging controversy Kaththi took a monstrous day one opening worldwide by grossing a whopping Rs 23.70 Crore. It is a record for a Tamil film, which did not have a Telugu or Hindi dubbed version releasing simultaneously with the original.
Kaththi is typical Murgadoss style packaged mass entertainer with Vijay playing a dual role as a crook and an agricultural scientist and a messiah of farmers. The first half was commercial cocktail to establish Vijay’s larger than life hero image, while the second half was the message part. The story dealt with farmer suicide and plight of farmers whose lands are being usurped by a multinational cola company.
The film got decent reviews and was declared a super hit by the trade.
Meanwhile after release, the film ran into a major plagiarism charges. A struggling assistant director Minjur Gopi alleged that Murgadoss has ripped off his story. Gopi in an interview to an online channel alleged that one of the highest paid directors in Indian cinema has allegedly “stolen” his story idea. In fact Gopi had earlier filed a case in the Chennai City Civil Court stating that the story of the film was his, has now appealed again to the court after it had dismissed his petition .
AR Murugadoss has refused to comment on the plagarising allegations, as his lawyers have asked him to maintain silence on the matter. But a source close to Murgadoss asks- “Why didn’t Gopi talk about scenes and story details before release?
Now that the film is a sensational hit it raises the issue whether he wants to cash in on it. And so far Gopi has not shown a shred of proof about his correspondence with the AR Murugadoss and himself despite his claims of knowing him well .”
And then well known bureaucrat and social scientist Alex Paul Menon IAS, has hit out against the film. Alex claim to fame is that he was abducted by Maoists when he was the collector of Sukma district in Chhattisgarh.
Alex wrote in his blog : “I have nothing against films and filmmakers, because they are merchants, but expecting social responsibility from them is like seeking medicine for cancer from quacks.” Menon panned the message conveyed in the film about water conversation.
Menon pointed out that the deep borewells running into depths of thousands of feet that people dig, the lakes and ponds that they fill up for real estate purpose are responsible for the water scarcity and not just the corporates and cola companies as the film shows.
Alex Paul Menon concludes his blog with a scathing attack on AR Murgadoss film by saying : “Chest-thumping and punch dialogues are not going to change our lives. Keep an open mind, analyse the problem to find a solution and solve it. We are our own saviours, and that is the only way out.
More trouble for AR Murgadoss was when a short film surfaced on You Tube listing out all plagiarism charges against Kaththi showing from where he has lifted scenes and title music. There seemed to be a sustained campaign online to show Murgadoss and his film in bad light.
Murgadoss maintained his silence and let his film do all the talking.
The director facing serious plagarising charges tweeted : “Kaththi hits 100 in 12 days, still going strong. Total Rs 100.7crore. India: 80.5 Cr Overseas: 20.2 Cr. Thanks to all audience & media.” Murgadoss has moved on to his next film in Hindi, a female oriented thriller with Sonakshi Sinha in the lead.
http://www.firstpost.com/bollywood/f...s-1789237.html
Originally Posted by Samajith
.
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks