It was recently announced that Ranveer Singh would be collaborating with Director S. Shankar for the Hindi remake of the 2005 Tamil film ‘Anniyan’.
Starring Vikram in lead, the psychological action thriller had won numerous accolades – 8 Filmfare Awards, 6 State Film Awards and a National Award (for Special Effects).
Now, it looks like the Hindi adaptation with Ranveer is in trouble even before it can take off! Anniyan’s producer V Ravichandran has now sent a LEGAL notice to Director S. Shankar!
In a scathing letter, Ravichandran has claimed that he’s the SOLE owner of Anniyan’s story rights. Calling the Hindi REMAKE ‘ILLEGAL‘, he also warned Shankar to immediately stop the project.
Read his full letter to Shankar:
SHANKAR REACTS!
However, as reported by TOI, S. Shankar has now RESPONDED to these accusations, calling them baseless. Shankar maintains he has the right to remake Anniyan since the script and storyline belong EXCLUSIVELY to him.
Take a look at his statement –
“Greetings for the day, I am shocked to receive your mail dated 14.04.2021 stating that you own the storyline of the movie Anniyan. In this context, I submit that the movie was released in the year 2005 and everyone associated with the movie were aware that the script and storyline belongs exclusively to me and in fact the movie was released with the tag: Story, Screenplay and Direction by Shankar.
I have not assigned in writing any script or screenplay to any person, and continue to retain the right to exploit the script in any manner I deem fit. As the admitted author of the literary work, my rights cannot be interfered with under any circumstances. I am rather surprised to see the reference to late Sri Sujatha, as he was engaged by me only to write dialogues for the film and was accordingly credited. He was not involved in the script, screenplay or characterization in any manner, and there is no scope beyond his engagement as a dialogue writer.
Given that the script vests with me, I am absolutely entitled to exploit the same in any manner I deem fit. Infact, you/your entity does not have the right to remake or make any derivative rights for “Anniyan”, as the said rights have not been granted to you in writing. In the absence of any assignment in writing from me, there can be no basis whatsoever to even assert that the “storyline” vests with you.
You as the producer have gained substantially from the success of the film “Anniyan”, and are needlessly trying to unjustly enrich yourself even in my future endeavours which have no correlation to you. Needless to state, I can only hope good sense will prevail upon you after this clarification and you will stop agitating such baseless claims. This reply is issued without prejudice, and to clarify the actual situation of me as a director and writer being subject to such avaricious and illegal claims to needlessly attempt to jeopardise my future projects. (sic)”