Writer, filmmaker settle row over 'Randamoozham' rights

A row between renowned writer M T Vasudevan Nair, popularly known as MT, and filmmaker V A Shrikumar Menon over making a film based on the popular novel 'Randamoozham' (Second Chance) has been settled.

Though Nair and Shrikumar Menon entered into an agreement in 2014 for making a film based on the novel, Nair later withdrew from it citing the delay of five years even as the contract said that the project should begin in three years.

Shrikumar Menon insisted that he had the rights to the script. Nair approached the court. The matter was scheduled to be considered by the Supreme Court next week.

As per the compromise reached between the writer and the filmmaker, the filmmaker would return the script and the writer would return the advance amount of Rs 1.25 crore.

'Randamoozham', considered as a masterpiece of Nair, is based on Mahabharata from Bhima's perspective. It was brought out in 1984 and received many awards.

UAE-based businessman B R Shetty earlier announced that he would invest Rs 1,000 crore for the multi-lingual project in two parts. Renowned actor Mohanlal was roped in to play the lead role and he had formally announced it too, while other leading actors including Aishwarya Rai Bachchan were reportedly considered for the big-budget film.

Nair backed out of the project accusing filmmaker Shrikumar Menon of not showing interest in it. The initial plan was to release the film by 2020.