Queen’ ready for release on Saturday, director Gowtham Vasudeva Menon tells High CourtJustice Ramamoorthy, he initially thought of giving some time for the film makers to file their counter affidavits since the shooting for Thalaivi had just begun and it would take time for the movie to get completed.
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‘Queen’ ready for release on Saturday, director Gowtham Vasudeva Menon tells High Court
Legal CorrespondentCHENNAI 10 DECEMBER 2019 08:37 ISTUPDATED: 10 DECEMBER 2019 08:37 IST
Gowtham Vasudeva Menon asked to file a counter to Deepa’s case by tomorrow
The Madras High Court on Monday directed film director Gowtham Vasudeva Menon to file his counter affidavit by Wednesday to a plea by former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s niece J. Deepa to restrain him from releasing a web series titled Queen.
Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy issued the direction after it was brought to his notice by senior counsel Satish Parasaran that the web series, based on the life of Jayalalithaa and portrayed by actor Ramya Krishnan, was all set to release on Saturday.
Ms. Deepa had filed a civil suit to injunct the release of web series as well as a biopic titled Thailaivi directed by A.L. Vijay. She contended that neither of them should be allowed to be released without disclosing the scripts to her and obtaining her consent.
“The applicant fears that the respondents may portray Dr. J. Jayalalitha and her personal life and the applicant’s part in the life story may be depicted by the respondents in their own version which may affect the family privacy and the applicant’s privacy,” her plaint read.
When the case was listed for admission before Justice Ramamoorthy, he initially thought of giving some time for the film makers to file their counter affidavits since the shooting for Thalaivi had just begun and it would take time for the movie to get completed.
However, the plaintiff’s counsel told the judge that web series Queen was fully ready and it would get released any time. Mr. Parasaran, representing Mr. Menon, submitted that the release was scheduled on Saturday and undertook to file a counter by Wednesday.
The director of the web series had filed a detailed affidavit before Justice K. Kalyanasundaram when the latter was seized of an application by the plaintiff to grant her leave (permission) to sue Mr. Vijay who was residing outside the territorial jurisdiction of the High Court.
In that affidavit, Mr. Menon had claimed that his web series was purely based upon a biography of Jayalalithaa which was in circulation for long.
His counsel accused Ms. Deepa of having filed the civil suit purely for the purpose of publicity.
