Stalling my remake: John Varghese

Movie production company Friday Film house has always been in the news. It initially grabbed attention as the venture of woman entrepreneur Sandra Thomas — a rarity in Mollywood. Later, it became known for the innovative films like Philips and the Monkey Pen and Zachariyayude Garbhinikal that they came up with. The other day, it hit the headlines once again after a bitter spat between Sandra and her business partner Vijay Babu. As per reports, Sandra lodged a police complaint against Vijay Babu for physical assault.

Now, John Varghese, who directed Adi Kappiyare Kootamani, a project bankrolled by Friday Film House, has come forward with an allegation against his producers. John alleges that the film house was preventing him from remaking the film, which was also co-written by him, into other languages. He has approached the court, he says, against what he terms as an ‘illegal move’.
 
“My film was written with an intention to produce it in Tamil. But when the plan didn’t take off on time, we sat for a discussion with team Friday, who agreed to produce it in Malayalam. I had told Vijay Babu that I wanted to do it in Tamil also and he did not have any objection. But post release of Adi Kappiyare…, when I started the preparation for its Tamil remake, he objected citing that I have no rights to do so.”

John says that the producers had forced him to sign a second agreement during the shoot. “I could not read that thoroughly as I was busy with the production. Now, this document is being used to stall my efforts to come up with a Tamil version,” he says. Apparently, the director had been discussing the project with actor Jeeva when he came across a news item about a plan by the film house to do the film in Tamil with Vaibhav.

John also says that as a newcomer, he had to suffer a lot of interference during the shoot including the replacement of crew that he had roped in for the project. Attempts to reach Vijay Babu and Sandra to get reactions did not succeed.