Plagiarism row: FEFKA and KFPA give clean chit to ‘Malayalee From India’

He said the film bodies checked the digital records of Dijo Jose Antony and Nishad Koya. “In our findings, we understood that a PDF document sent by Nishad Koya, which is said to be the script of Indo-Pak that has similarities to Malayalee From India, wasn’t downloaded by Dijo Jose.”

Same ideas by different writers

Unnikrishnan disclosed that the script of Malayalee From India was similar to the script written by a writer named Unni, who worked on it during 2012-2016.

This was supposed to be directed by Prajith and headlined by Dileep. However, the project was shelved. Unni is now not associated with the film industry and is working in a steel unit in Kochi.

The FEFKA General Secretary pointed out that Unni and Sharis Muhammed interestingly penned the same dialogues in their respective scripts. “The story is also similar to that of a Malayali and a Pakistani who are at loggerheads.”

Further, Unnikrishnan revealed that the script of Malayalee From India was supposed to be directed by cinematographer Sreejith with Roshan Mathew in the lead. However, it didn’t work out for some reason, and Dijo took it up.

Malayalee From India plagiarism row: Nishad Koya makes more revelations

No plagiarism: Unnikrishnan

“After probing the allegations, we concluded that there was no plagiarism in the case of Malayalee From India,” Unnikrishnan announced.

He said they also enquired with Jayasurya, to whom Nishad briefed the story. “Jayasurya said he only gave a one-line brief to Dijo Jose and did not tell the entire story.”

The FEFKA General Secretary said similar incidents, two scripts with the same ideas, happened earlier too.

Unnikrishnan felt that Nishad Koya could have approached the film bodies before posting his script on social media.

“Discussions in various forums would have been helpful to mend ways rather than burning the bridge. Sadly, Dijo Jose Antony and Sharis Muhammed are being mob lynched on social media,” he said.

Listin Stephen and Siyad Koker. (Supplied)

Listin Stephen, producer of Malayalee From India, told the media that there was a purported hate campaign underway on social media to degrade the film though it got a good response.

The filmmaker clarified that he would not bankroll a movie with a plagiarised story.

He alleged that some social media pages were intentionally targeting his flick as they weren’t given advertisements.

He also revealed that the team would take a legal route against Nishad Koya.

Malayalee From India director Dijo Jose Antony thanked the FEFKA for clearing the air in the plagiarism row and giving them a clean chit.

He reiterated that he and writer Sharif did not rob the scripts of their previous films, as was being alleged on social media.

Dijo also clarified about shooting the film secretively. “My Instagram account has pictures of the pooja ceremony and videos about Malayalee From India.”

Also Read: Nivin Pauly hits the bull’s eye with ‘Malayalee From India’

Action against Nishad Koya?

With all these allegations against Nishad Koya, the KFPA and FEFKA seem to have decided to take action against the scriptwriter.

Siyad Koker, representative of KFPA, said Nishad could have approached the film bodies in this regard before posting his script (Indo-Pak) on social media.

The executive council of KFPA will meet soon and may initiate strict action against Nishad, he added.

Scriptwriter Nishad Koya alleged in an interview with a YouTube channel that the story of Malayalee From India was plagiarised from his script Indo-Pak, which was known to Dijo Jose through a conversation with Jayasurya.

Nishad posted his script, a day before the release of Malayalee From India, saying that it was the story of a movie to be released the next day (1 May). But he deleted the post after intervention by film bodies.

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