Seems like the tussle between the makers of Aby and Vimanam - both aviation themed films - is coming to a close!
Earlier, the team of Prithviraj-starrer Vimanam had filed a temporary injunction at the Munsiff court staying the release of Vineeth Sreenivasan's Aby citing that the latter was inspired from the real-life story of hearing and speech-impaired Saji M Thomas. Thodupuzha-based Saji had shot to fame after making an ultra-light aircraft all by himself.
However, the injuction was dismissed on Friday by justice Ravisankar. "The judge read Aby's screenplay, watched the film and considered plaintiff Saji's arguments that the movie is inspired from his life, and found them invalid," says Aby director Srikant Murali. "I am happy that the court has dismissed in the injunction and allowed the film to release."
A source close to Aby's team tells us Vimanam team's arguments were based on two claims - personality and publicity rights.
"Saji's advocate argued that the movie should not be allowed to release as it violates personality rights. However, the judge was convinced that Aby bore no resemblance to Saji's life," she says. "Above all the rights to make a movie on Saji's life were been acquired by the Vimanam team after the film Aby was announced last year."
Another bone of contention was that two films based on similar theme of making aircrafts should not be allowed. "That argument too didn't hold up in court as everybody has the right to make movies based on any theme they deem fit. Just because the films have one common element, people cannot demand to halt the release," she says.
Meanwhile Vimanam director Pradeep M Nair says that he is not completely content with the decision and might consider approaching higher courts.
"Though we didn't submit our script to court, we had enough points to argue as we found a lot of similarities with Saji's life based on the Aby's trailer," he says. "Also, I don't understand why the complainant was not allowed to watch the movie before the judgment. However, as the judge has found that there is no resemblance, I respect the verdict."
On how the decision will affect his film Vimanam, Pradeep says, "Mine is a big budget movie, which I have been dreaming of doing since years. If another film with a similar theme is released, it would rob our film off the novelty in the subject. However, that being said, both Prithviraj and Vineeth bring two different acting styles to the table and that could make all the difference now."
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