Ernakulam munsiff court clears Aby for release

Kochi: The Ernakulam munsiff court on Friday refused to grant an injunction on the release of Vineeth Sreenivasan starrer Aby. The court rejected the plea filed by the crew of film Vimanam, a Prithviraj movie, who argued that both the movies revolve around the life of Saji Thomas, a Thodupuzha-native who created a functional aircraft without avionics background. The petition invoked personality rights, a rarity in Malayalam film industry which the court refused to consider. Earlier, actor Rajinikanth had successfully used personality rights against the use of his name in movies.

The petitioners Pradeep N. Nair, director of Vimanam and Saji Thomas alleged that the story of Aby had close resemblance with their movie as it is based on the life story of Mr Thomas. Aby portrays a person's dreams to achieve flying. Makers of Aby claim that the movie has nothing to do with Vimanam. With the court order, Aby produced by Suvin K. Varkey, is set to hit the screens in February.

Pradeep N. Nair had already secured the rights from Mr Thomas to make a biopic.  Issues started when Sreekanth Murali announced the movie Aby and started its shooting with the script written by Santhosh Echikkanam. The court considered the contentions of both sides and watched the DVD of Aby and script of Vimanam before passing the order. Actor Nivin Pauly recently launched the trailer of the movie.