Filmmaker Sanal Kumar Sasidharan has alleged that the creators of the Mohanlal starrer Thudarum have plagiarised the script of his unreleased film Theeyattam. In a post on Facebook, Sanal claimed that he wrote the Theeyattam screenplay in 2020, which the Thudarum makers 'stole' and used as a skeleton script for their film. The filmmaker argued that its core "remains safe" because Thudarum's makers are not intelligent enough "to understand its essence" or intentionally "avoided it in their attempt to rewrite it unrecognisably."
As per Sanal, his Theeyattam story follows an auto driver whom law enforcement frames after a murder in his vehicle, a storyline that is similar to Thudarum, also starring Shobana, Prakash Varma, and Binu Pappu. As evidence for his allegations, Sanal stated that Thudarum's makers "unnecessarily" utilised one of his lines in it, which he regards as a major "slip-up" from the makers.
"A crucial dialogue from my screenplay, 'Konnaal paapam thinnaal theerum' (the sin of killing is absolved on eating) is used in this film despite being completely unnecessary. Even expert thieves, skilled at stealing without leaving a trace, can forget themselves due to certain whims. I felt the use of this dialogue was one such slip-up," he explained as he made the allegations.
Sanal, known for his films Ozhivudivasathe Kali and S Durga, also claimed that he had made a story pitch to Manju Warrier, Sudheer Karamana, and Tovino Thomas.
"They all have read the screenplay. Since five years is a long period, it's possible that they may have forgotten about it. I will be publishing my screenplay here soon," Sanal concluded his note.
The filmmaker also promised that he would share his screenplay for Theeyattam on social media for people to discern the similarities.