Legal Trouble for Kangana's 'Thalaivi'; Jayalalithaa's niece to sue filmmakers

Chennai: Upcoming Indian trilingual biographical film ‘Thalaivi’, based on the life of late J. Jayalalithaa, a politician and film actress who served as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, with Kangana Ranaut playing the lead role is set to release on 2020. On November 23, the filmmakers released the first look of the Thalaivi and a short teaser of the film was also released and received mixed responses from the audience.

In Early November, Jayalalitha’s niece, J Deepa had moved to the Madras High Court to file a composite plea opposing the film and another web series that is in the making.

She stated that she is the legal heir of Jayalalithaa and the filmmakers should have contacted her well before making a biopic on her life. The filmmakers have no legal right to make a film on the late Chief Minister that may affect her or her family’s privacy.

Deepa also alleged that the filmmakers intended to make the film for their monetary and commercial benefits, without the consent of the family members. She said in the court that the filmmakers should submit the entire script to her well before and seek her explicit permission to make such content.

Madras High Court granted permission to Deepa to sue the filmmakers of Thalaivi as well as Gautham Memon who is planning the web Series on life of Jayalalitha starring Ramya Krishnan on Tuesday, November 26.

According to reports, neither directed AL Vijay nor producer Vishnu Vardhan denied making of the film. Despite not being a party to the application, Gautham Menon filed a counter-affidavit and opposed Deepa’s plea. In Gautham’s plea, he opposed the idea of the composite suit as his web series is based on Jayalalithaa’s Biography.

Thalaivi is scheduled to hit the theatres on 26 June 2020 in Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu.