Two months after its release, the Malayalam blockbuster Thudarum, starring Mohanlal and Shobana, has come under scrutiny as filmmaker Sanal Kumar Sasidharan accuses the makers of plagiarizing his unproduced script, Theeyattam. The film has grossed Rs 234.5 crore worldwide and is currently the third highest grossing Malayalam film of all time, is now facing allegations plagiarism.
In a Facebook post, Sanal alleged that the narrative framework of Thudarum was lifted from his 2020 script Theeyattam.
“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.
Sanal’s original script centered on an auto-rickshaw driver named Ambi, who is falsely implicated in a murder when a severed head is found in his vehicle. He elaborated “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.”
Sanal also revealed that Theeyattam was originally pitched to Century Films and had Manju Warrier, Tovino Thomas, Murali Gopy, and Sudheer Karamana attached. “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 wrote.
Thudarum was written by KR Sunil and directed by Tharun Moorthy, produced under the Rejaputhra Visual Media banner by M Renjith. Aside from Mohanlal and Shobana, it also stars Prakash Varma, Binu Pappu, Farhaan Faasil, Aarsha Chandini Baiju, and more. The film premiered on JioHotstar on May 30 after its successful theatrical run.
Also Read: Thudarum Review: Mohanlal Returns To Form In A Gripping Crime Drama
