Kamal Hassan accused of stealing script

South film assistant director Senthil Kumar claims he wrote the script for the actor-director's new film, Dasavatharam

Dasavatharam, the new film starring Kamal Hassan in which the actor portrays 10 different roles, is facing problems even before its release.

Hassan is being accused of stealing the story from Senthil Kumar, an assistant director, who has filed a police complaint against the actor.

Kumar claims that the script for the film was written by him and on August 8, 2005, he gave the same to Murali, an employee of Rajkamal Films, which happens to be Hassan's production company.

Despite being invited to the Rajkamal offices on several occasions, Kumar was denied access to Hassan but was told by Murali that the actor had liked the script and was turning it into a film. Kumar was promised the post of assistant director.

However, Kumar was later shocked to read about the storyline of Dasavatharam in a magazine and approached Rajkamal offices once again to inquire why he was not informed of the project being launched. He had, after all, written the script.

When he once again failed to get a response from the production company, an angry Kumar swore to fight for a hefty compensation from Hassan.

When contacted, Hassan's PR representative refuted Kumar's claim and, on behalf of Hassan, said, "Kamal feels that there are better things for him and the police to do and he does not want to waste time speaking to the press. If an inquiry was made however, he would speak directly to the police."

Meanwhile Murali says that his role in Rajkamal films is that of a mere cashier and he does not contribute to filmmaking, "I don't know this Senthil Kumar and I have not met him. I don't even know how he got my name," says Murali.

The film is a mega production and apparently just one song of the movie is budgeted at Rs 3 crore. The film is being shot about 25 km from Chennai.

With his performance in the Dasavatharam, Hassan hopes to break the record set by actor Sivaji Ganesan, who portrayed nine roles in the film Navarathri.

In the Hindi remake of the said film, actor Sanjeev Kumar played Sivaji's role and the Bollywood version was titled Naya Din Nayi Raat.

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