The niece of former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa was granted permission by the Madras High Court on Tuesday to file a civil suit against the filmmakers of Thalaivi, the film based on the life of her deceased aunt. This would mean that Deepa can now file a case against Director AL Vijay, who is making the feature film starring Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut, as well as other movies on Jayalalithaa in the pipeline.
In early November, Deepa had moved the Madras High Court stating that she was the legal heir of the former AIADMK chief and that filmmakers did not have the legal right to produce a movie on the life of Jayalalithaa. She further contended that the movie may affect her aunt's and, by extension, her family's privacy. She alleged that the filmmakers intended to release the film for their commercial and monetary benefits, and without the consent of the legal heirs.
Along with AL Vijay, who is making the film both in Hindi and Tamil, director Gautham Vasudev Menon, too, has proposed a web series on Jayalalithaa, titled Queen and starring Ramya Krishnan. Deepa had filed a composite plea opposing both.
According to reports, neither AL Vijay nor his producer Vishnu Vardhan had denied making the film. Gautham Menon, meanwhile, despite not being a party to the application, filed a detailed counter affidavit and opposed Deepa's plea. He reportedly filed a counter-affidavit and opposed the idea of a composite suit in the matter, as his web series was purely based on Jayalalithaa's biography.
Meanwhile, on November 23, AL Vijay released the first look of Thalaivi with Kangana portraying both the yesteryear cine star version of Jayalalithaa and her role as the state's most powerful leader.
Along with the poster, a short teaser of a scene from Vennira Aadai, shot in 1964, too was re-enacted. Jayalalithaa had played the role of Shobha opposite actor Sreekanth, who came to be known 'Vennira Aadai Sreekanth' following the success of the movie.
Deepa has said in the court that she wants the entire script to be submitted to her and that her explicit permission should be sought to make the content.