'Sarkar' plagiarism row: Varun Rajendran to be credited with special message

Chennai : Plagiarism charges against A.R. Murugadoss' forthcoming Tamil political thriller 'Sarkar' were dropped on Tuesday as the filmmakers agreed to honour writer and co-director Varun Rajendran via a special message in the credits.

Rajendran had alleged that Murugadoss' 'Sarkar' is heavily inspired by his story 'Sengol', which he had registered in 2007.

Following the allegations, Rajendran registered a complaint with South Indian Film Writers' Association and then later filed a petition with the Madras High Court, demanding a ban on the film's release until he is given his due credits along with a remuneration of Rs 30 lakh for his story.

The case came up for hearing on Tuesday in the Madras High Court. However, both the parties decided to settle the matter amicably, with Murugadoss agreeing to honour Rajendran with a special message.

Murugadoss took to Twitter to share the statement, which will reportedly be flashed for 30 seconds in the credits.

"Denying the fundamental rights of voters by bogus voting is a dangerous crime affecting the welfare of our country," Murugadoss tweeted.

"I imagined that a movie could be made with the theme that a hero whose vote is bogusly cast fights against the injustice and establishes the truth and creates awareness among the people. After discussing for months, I wrote the script of 'Sarkar' and directed the movie.

"I came to know that one co-director K.V. Rajendran aka Varun had also imagined the same theme and had registered his script with South Indian Film Writers' Association. I'm writing to praise Varun for having imagined and registering the script before me."

Murugadoss thanked the South Indian Film Writers' Association for "identifying a talented colleague in cinema world".

'Sarkar', which features Vijay in the lead role, is gearing up for release on November 6. The film also stars Keerthy Suresh, Radha Ravi and Varalaxmi Sarath Kumar among others in key roles.

The film is produced by Sun Pictures and features music by A.R Rahman.