He has also opened up on what had actually happened and who had betrayed him. When our bureau has tried to talk to a few insiders on this issue, there are different kinds of opinions.
“Industry runs only on big fish- small fish formula. Every writer registers his story in TCWA (Telugu Cine Writers Association). But the kind of protection or support it gives depends on who is there on the opposite side. As a member of that TCWA, I paid Rs 25,000 for life membership. I don’t know what will be the fate of my registered stories after listening to Rajesh Manduri’s grievance. The people sitting in responsible chairs of TCWA must be weak. They can’t dare to go against big names in the industry”, shared a member of the association in the condition of anonymity.
“In the western countries, the writers get the listeners to sign an agreement stating that they wouldn’t disclose the details of the story to anyone. If the writer complains about any plagiarism incident, then a thorough enquiry will be done and the miscreant once caught will be charged with huge penalties and legal punishment including imprisonment. That is the kind of protection those countries give for intellectual properties. There should be such a system here also. Only then the freemakes will be stopped. IPRS (Intellectual Property Rights Society) is doing something good for music directors and lyricists. But the plight of story writers is different. Their intellectual property should be guarded by bigger authorities at national level, but not by some local office in Hyderabad which runs seeking the blessings of big heroes and directors”, opined Raghunandan, an advocate and an expert in this domain.
“This industry is driven by names first and the content next. I wrote a story once and tried to get the appointment of big heroes since it is the hero driven industry. I couldn’t get them. Later I tried to meet a couple of star directors. Even they didn’t bother to talk to me. With someone’s advice, I met a top writer in the industry. He listened to my story, liked a lot and asked me to sell the story for Rs 5 lakh. I was in dire need of money then. I sold it to him. He narrated it to a hero and a director as his own story and could make things happen. The film was a huge hit in 2015”, said Nagaraj, still a struggling aspiring director.
He also continued saying, “I was not aware of story credit those days. When a film gets remake rights, the crores of amount will be paid to the one who has the story credit. So, the top writers and directors crave for that credit. Now Rajesh Manduri is also expecting the same. He seems to be informed, intelligent and genuine”, he concluded.
“Any technician who aspires to make his place in the film industry should never step into controversies of allegations. He may get backstabbed with plagiarism in a few incidents. But he shouldn’t complain. Only then he will have some mileage in the industry and will be able to get an opportunity down the line. If he complains in an incident, the entire industry will keep him away”, expressed an insider in the industry.
“Only the writers who have one or two stories with them and wish to conquer the industry with them, will do this kind of complaint when their stories are hijacked. A truly talented creator doesn’t mind when his story gets pilfered. He will forget about that and write another story”, shared another writer turned director who also claimed that he too had faced such plagiarism in the early days of his career.
“Koratala Shiva makes films on social values. But it is shocking to see him in this controversy. I vaguely remember that once he said about a similar betrayal he faced with some other director in the early days of his career. It is bad to know if he has repeated the same harm to some other aspiring director. If this is true, what a shameful act by Koratala!”, says Sandeep, a journalist.
The issue of Acharya story plagiarism seems to be becoming big. It will be good if Chiranjeevi and Ram Charan probe into this matter, find the truth and give the story credit to Rajesh Manduri if he truly deserves it. That will lift the image of not only Mega Star Chiranjeevi but also that of Telugu Film Industry.
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