PARASAKTHI PLAGIARISM ROW: Madras HC clears film; complainant questions writers association

On Friday, the Madras High Court refused to stall the release of Sudha Kongara’s Parasakthi in a suit filed by writer KV Rajendran alias Varun Rajendran, who claimed that the film was stolen from his registered script, titled Chemmozhi , and had filed an application to restrain its release.A grave breakdown of responsibility and accountability: Varun RajendranMeanwhile, in a press statement, Rajendran alleged that the South Indian Film Writers Association (SWAN) refused to receive the court order that directed them to submit an enquiry report/opinion letter about the issue on or before January 28. He also accused the defendants of not submitting their full script. Terming SWAN’s inaction as a “grave breakdown of responsibility and accountability”, he stated, “How is the Hon’ble Court expected to grant any meaningful protective order — how can any stay be judicially considered — when the very materials required for comparison are withheld, and when even a Court notice is refused?” Rajendran claimed that he had submitted a complaint to SWAN in January 2025, but no action had been taken.Varun refused to share his story with us: BhagyarajWhen we contacted SWAN president K Bhagyaraj, he told us, “Rajendran came to us when Parasakthi was just about to go on floors. So, I told him, ‘They are just starting work on the film. And it won’t be good to ask them right now to give their script. Give me your script. I will check with them and find out whether the two stories have any similarities. If they say ‘no’ and it ends up being similar, we will proceed with the next step and file a case then’. But he refused to share his story with us. What can we do then?” He added, “Later, he privately filed a case. If the court asks us, we are going to tell them what happened. That’s it. We (SWAN) have just got a letter that we have also been mentioned as a respondent. Now, from our side, we have started checking whether there are any similarities between both stories. If the court asks us about it, then we’ll respond.”