The first look poster of Vinayakan’s upcoming film Karinthandan, directed by Leela Santhosh, was out a few days ago and received a good response. However, the filmmakers and movie buffs are in for a shock with assistant director GK Gopakumar alleging that he had registered that title months ago.
In a Facebook post, Gopakumar wrote that both the script and the title have been registered already. The groundwork to get his project on to the floors has supposedly begun already.
Meanwhile, debut director Leela has begun work on her film by the same title.
Following this, Gopakumar has threatened to take legal action against the filmmakers as he had launched the first look of his film last December and the title, he says, is registered with the Film Chamber.
“Every film is the dream of many people. There would be many sleepless nights behind that dream,” he wrote on Facebook.
He does not have any anger or enmity with Leela, he writes. "It is appreciable the way she has fought many obstacles to come to cinema." He believes in the law, and therefore, does not wish to fight wars on Facebook, Gopakumar writes.
An assistant director, GK Gopakumar is currently associated with the Mammootty starrer Maamankam, which is under way.
Speaking to TNM, Leela Santhosh said that she had registered the title for her film six months ago.
"At the time, Film Chamber did not raise an objection to my title. If another title by the same name has already been registered, wouldn't the Film Chamber ask me to change my title? That didn't happen and I got my title registered without any issues."
Leela says that she was shocked when she heard about Gopakumar 's claims.
"I do not know him, I have never spoken to him either. After I registered my title, someone shared a poster with me. That poster had Karinthandan written on it, but without the name of any production house. Gopakumar had shared the poster in December 2017. I did not know this at all. He now alleges that I got in touch with him enquiring about the title and never informed him about my film by the same name. This is not true. We are friends on Facebook, but I haven't spoken to him at all. I see in the media that he is seeking legal recourse, but so far no one has approached us to bring this to our notice."
(With inputs from Digital Native)