Tamil film director Gautham Vasudev Menon told the Madras High Court on Monday that he intended to release the Queen web series on Saturday, December 14. The web series is based on the life of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa. The late AIADMK chief’s niece Deepa Jayakumar approached the court in November, seeking a stay on any biopics made on her aunt. While a feature film titled Thalaivi in Tamil and Jaya in Hindi directed by AL Vijay is in the works, the web series is directed by Gautham Menon and is titled Queen. The film will have Bollywood actor Kangna Ranaut in the lead and the webseries stars actor Ramya Krishnan.
The matter came up for hearing before Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy. Deepa’s counsel insisted that an interim injunction be issued stating that while the feature film may have only just gone on floors, the web series is to be released shortly.
The counsel for director Gautham Vasudev Menon argued that they had not been provided with documents from Deepa’s legal team.
The court ordered Deepa’s legal team to provide Gautham Menon’s team with the documents. The director has been asked to submit his reply to Deepa’s petition by Wednesday.
Deepa had demanded that the full script of the productions be made available to her and stated that her explicit permission was required to make the film and web series. Deepa raised privacy concerns with regard to the portrayal of the late AIADMK supremo as well as herself.
Her petition stated, “Dr J Jayalalitha is a great political personality and the said life story cannot be filmed without adding the life of [J Deepa] as part of the film. In such an event, the same would amount an interference of the privacy of [J Deepa]. More so, [J Deepa] is not aware of the story, script, screen play, dialogue, etc., prepared by the [directors and producer] in producing the said movie and for the web serial. [J Deepa] fears that the [directors and producer] may portray Dr J Jayalalitha and her personal life in the life story and [J Deepa] part in the life story may also be depicted by the [directors and producer] in their own version which may affect the family privacy and [J Deepa’s] privacy.”
Earlier, Deepa’s brother J Deepak had raised issues with Gautham Menon’s web series, stating that the family’s permission was needed for the portrayal of Jayalalithaa on screen.
The matter has been posted for hearing on December 11.
Source: The News Minute