Madras HC issues notice to makers of Mammootty-starrer 'Yatra'

The Madras High Court Thursday issued a notice to producers of the Mammootty starrer 'Yatra', a biopic on late Chief Minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh, YS Rajasekhar Reddy.

When a civil suit by M Murugan of Sri Saai Lakshmi Pictures of Chennai came up, Justice M Sundar issued a notice to the producers of the movie, 70 MM entertainments and Shiva Mega Film Producers of Hyderabad and Gube Cinema Technologies of Chennai.

The judge then posted the matter for further hearing on February 6.

The petitioner claimed that the title and story of the film belonged to him as it was already registered with the Film And Television Producer Guild Of South India.

The shooting of a film with the same name was almost over and was likely to be released by February end, he submitted.

Alleging that the producers Yatra did not heed the advice of the guild, the petitioner said they were planning to release it in Tamil Nadu on February 8.

Hence, he sought a permanent injunction from releasing the movie in Tamil in any theatre on the said date.

Y S Rajasekhar Reddy was a two-time Chief Minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh. He took oath as the 14th chief minister of the state after the Congress won the 2004 assembly polls.

The party retained power in Andra in the 2009 assembly elections, however, Reddy's second term as chief minister was cut short after he died in a helicopter crash on September 2, 2009.