Mohanlal's Thudarum faces plagiarism allegation from Sanal Kumar Sasidharan: ‘It's made by stealing the skeleton of…'
Almost two months after the film's release and its subsequent blockbuster success, a plagiarism allegation has surfaced against director Tharun Moorthy's Mohanlal and Shobana-starrer Thudarum. Claiming that Thudarum was essentially built on the skeleton of his unrealised project, Theeyattam, renowned filmmaker Sanal Kumar Sasidharan shared that he would soon release the full script on social media for people to review. In a lengthy social media post, he also took a dig at the makers of Thudarum, alleging that they managed to emulate only the structure of his work, not its soul.
'I saw the movie Thudarum. It's made by stealing the skeleton of my screenplay, Theeyattam, which I wrote in 2020. The core of it, however, remains safe; either because they (the makers of the Mohanlal-starrer) lacked the intelligence to understand its essence, or because they deliberately avoided it in their attempt to rewrite it unrecognisably,' he wrote on Facebook.
Penned by KR Sunil and director Tharun Moorthy, Thudarum was bankrolled by M Renjith under the banner of Rejaputhra Visual Media. Sanal continued, 'My story is about an auto-rickshaw driver named Ambi who is framed by the police after someone is murdered inside his vehicle, and their severed head is left in it. A crucial dialogue from my screenplay, 'Konnaal paapam thinnaal theerum' (a proverb meaning, 'the sin of killing is absolved on eating') is used in this film despite being completely unnecessary. Even expert thieves, skilled at stealing without leaving a trace, can forget themselves due to certain whims. I felt the use of this dialogue was one such slip-up,' he alleged.
Envisioned with Manju Warrier, Tovino Thomas, Murali Gopy and Sudheer Karamana in key roles, Sanal Kumar Sasidharan also claimed that an understanding in this regard had been reached with production company Century Films at the time. 'All of them have read the screenplay. Since five years is a long period, it's possible that they may have forgotten about it. I will be publishing my screenplay here soon,' he concluded the note.
Also starring Prakash Varma, Binu Pappu, Thomas Mathew, Aarsha Chandini Baiju, Amritha Varshini, Farhaan Faasil, Maniyanpilla Raju and Irshad in key roles, Thudarum grossed Rs 234.5 crore worldwide during its theatrical run. It currently ranks as the third-highest-grossing Malayalam film of all time, behind L2: Empuraan and Manjummel Boys. The film began streaming on JioHotstar on May 30.
Renowned for directing films such as Oraalppokkam (2014), Ozhivudivasathe Kali (2015), S Durga (2017), Chola (2019) and Vazhakku (2021), Sanal Kumar Sasidharan is a recipient of the Kerala State Film Awards for Best Director and Best Film, in addition to numerous accolades at international film festivals.
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