'Kaduva' starring Prithviraj and directed by Shaji Kailas which was slated for release next month has been stayed temporarily by a local court in Kochi on Friday.
The petitioner's family with a rich pedigree hailing from Kottayam district was earlier approached by Kailas to make a film about his long-running feud with a yesteryear top police official, subject to certain conditions like the screenplay should be written by Renji Panicker and the lead role should be played either by Mohanlal or Suresh Gopi.
It was also pointed out that the film should be titled 'Vyakhram' and the lead character should not be portrayed as taking the law into his hands.
But nothing happened towards the making of the film and the project was dropped.
Later, when reports surfaced that a film titled 'Kaduva' was coming up with Prithviraj in the lead role and further probe by the petitioner revealed that the film was based on his life.
And then he approached the court and in his plea, he pointed out that the film was nothing but his own tale and he was portrayed as a villain more than a hero and the acts in the film were contrary to his life and hence would be defaming and his reputation could be dented.
With this, the court granted a temporary stay for the film to be released in full or in parts and posted the case for further hearing on the 14th of this month.
Shaji Kailas is known for his hugely successful films and has by now directed over 40 films, but for the past few years, he has been having a quiet time. The HC movie has come as a setback to the veteran director who was returning to the film industry after a gap of a few years.
Actor Prithviraj will be playing the role of ‘Kaduvakunnel Kuruvachan’ in the film under the script of Jinu Abraham. Recently the updates and stills of the film shared by Shaji Kailas through his social media handle made a huge buzz on social media and the hype soared high when the Bollywood actor Vivek Oberoi joined the cast of the film.
The other cast in the movie includes Samyuktha Menon, Siddique, Vijayaraghavan and Kalabhavan Shajohn.
‘Kaduva’ is jointly produced by Listin Stephen and Supriya Menon, under the banner Magic Frames and Prithviraj Sukumaran Productions.
The film had earlier courted controversy when the writer of Kaduva Jinu Abraham approached the High Court citing that he felt the Suresh Gopi film Kaduvakunnel Kuruvachan, directed by Mathews Thomas Plammoottil, was plagiarised from his script Kaduva.
