The plagiarism row over Yaan escalated today, with the production house behind the move sending a legal notice to director Ravi K Chandran. The director and acclaimed cinematographer has been accused of blatantly lifting scenes from the 1978 English movie Midnight Express, and using them in Yaan – his directorial debut – which released on October 2.
RS Infotainment, which produced the film, was made aware of the plagiarism issue only recently, when a video comparing Yaan and the English film went viral. The firm said it was ‘shocked’ by this as Ravi K Chandran had assured them before the film went into production that the script was ‘entirely original’. They have resorted to legal action as they feel that a lawsuit from the producers of the 1978 English movie is a possibility.
Ravi K Chandran chose not to comment on the issue ‘at this point’.