Thalapathy Vijay's Mersal directer by Atlee which hit the screens last Diwali was a blockbuster hit. Vijay played three roles in this film also has three female leads - had Kajal Aggarwal, Samantha and Nithya Menen.
From the day of its release, there has been huge speculations that the film has traces of Rajinikanth’s Moondru Mugam and Kamal Haasan’s Apoorva Sagodharargal.
Post its release a notice was sent to the Tamil Nadu Producers' Council alleging plagiarism. It is said that film Producer Five Star Kathiresan, who has acquired the remake rights of Rajinikanth's Moondru Mugam, has reportedly accused Atlee Kumar of stealing the story from the Superstar's film Moondru Mugam.
Producer Kathiresan who has acquired the original rights from Satya Movies had plans for doing a remake of the classic starring Ragava Lawrance in 2016, which was delayed due to the actor's previous commitments.
It was reported on Polimer News that the issue was taken again by the Producer's Council recently and during the meeting both Atlee and Kathiresan were present. Producer Kathiresan who is now the Vice President of TNPC said that the story is similar to Moondru Mugam and that Atlee has to compensate by giving him 30 percent of his remuneration which he got for Mersal.
He also screened a 30-minute video which had scenes from Mersal resembling Moondru Mugam. Denying the acquisition director Atlee said may be the template is similar to Moondru Mugam but it is purely his own creativity.
Atlee further added that Karthiresan can approach the Court over the charges and that he will prove the same in Court. Later TNPC had suggested, they can form a committee which will have 5 prominent writers and directors from the industry who will watch the film and give an amicable solution.
But Mersal is not the first of Atlee’s films to have been ‘inspired’ by older, iconic ones. All three films the director has made thus far draw heavily from other movies. His debut movie Raja Rani (2013) had the traces of Director Mani Ratnam's blockbuster hit Mouna Ragam. His second film Theri, was said to be the lifted from Chatriyan (written and produced by Mani Ratnam).
Mersal was produced under the banner Thenandal Studio Limited by N Ramasamy, Hema Rukmani, R Mahendran and H Murali on a budget of Rs 120 crores. Directed by Atlee, Mersal also starred SJ Surya, Vadivelu and Sathyaraj. AR Rahman had composed music for this venture with GK Vishnu cranking the camera and Ruben editing it.
(Content provided by Digital Native)