Story is mine, there will be no Thanks' card for Varun, says A R Murugadoss

In a self explanatory video which he posted on his twitter handle no sooner he came out of the court on Tuesday after the Sarkar story plagiarism row case was heard, Murugadoss said, “So many rumours were spread even before we were out of the court. What happened was Bhagyaraj sir called and told me that the ‘spark’ of Sarkar and that of Varun’s Sengol registered in 2007 with Writers Association was the same. The similarity between both ends there. The stories have no parallels. Since an associate director who has imagined the same theme and had registered his script before me, Bhagayaraj sir asked me to give Varun a card praising him in the beginning of Sarkar credits to encourage and motivate his talent, which will be taken care of! That’s all.”

Vijay

ARM asserts that the only name to be credited for the script on the rolling title cards would be his. “The story, screenplay, dialogue and direction of Sarkar are mine and only my name will be positioned in the title credits,” he reveals.

Last week, Varun Rajendran, a writer and associate director, had filed a complaint with the South Indian Film Writer’s Association saying the Sarkar script had been lifted from Sengol, a story that he had registered with the association in 2007. The issue was taken to court and the hearing came up on Tuesday.

The rumour doing the rounds early on Tuesday was that the Sarkar story issue had been sorted out amicably. Such reports also went on to suggest that a “Thanks” acknowledgement would be made to Varun in the opening credits for the story even as an undisclosed amount had been paid to him as compensation. That is when ARM stepped in to say “Please stop spreading rumours that I have agreed to include writer and assistant director Varun Rajendran’s name in the credits.”