Story theft cases seem to be the latest fad in Tamil cinema. After Kaththi and Madras, Lingaa is under the scanner now. A petitioner named K.R. Ravi Rathinam who resides in Tamil Nadu Housing Board colony in Madurai’s Chinna Chokkikulam has lodged a complaint against Lingaa team – KS Ravikumar, writer Ponkumar, producer Rockline Venkatesh and Rajinikanth alleging the story of Lingaa has been stolen from his script. Ravi Rathinam says Lingaa was the story he had written for his film Mullai Vanam 999 based on the construction of the Mullaperiyar dam by John Pennycuick. Ravi Rathinam alleges that the team stole his script after he uploaded a video on YouTube relating to it and has requested the court to order an enquiry into the issue.
Justice M. Venugopal has ordered the Lingaa team to respond to the petitioner on or before November 19th. However, he has not passed not any restraining orders to conduct the film’s audio launch which is scheduled to happen on November 16th. On including Rajinikanth’s name as one of the respondents, the petitioner’s counsel argued that he holds distribution rights for the film.