Mohanlal starrer Thudarum, which released in theatres on April 25, 2025, earned critical acclaim and was a huge box office success. The Tharun Moorthy-directorial became one of the highest-grossing Malayalam films. Amidst the success, Thudarum has faced plagiarism allegation by renowned Malayalam filmmaker Sanal Kumar Sasidharan. He claimed that Thudarum story was stolen from his 2020 film, Theeyattam.
In his Facebook post, the Sexy Durga director, wrote in Malayalam, which is loosely translated as, "I saw the movie Thudarum. It's made by stealing the skeleton of my screenplay, Theeyattam, which I wrote in 2020. The core of it, remains safe; either because they (the makers of Thudarum) lacked the intelligence to understand its essence, or because they deliberately avoided it in their attempt to rewrite it unrecognisably."
Have a look at Sanal Kumar Sasidharan's post here.
"My story is about an auto-rickshaw driver named Ambi who is framed by the police after someone is murdered inside his vehicle, and their severed head is left in it."
He further wrote that a dialogue from his screenplay is also used in Thudarum despite being completely unnecessary. "Even expert thieves, skilled at stealing without leaving a trace, can forget themselves due to certain whims. I felt the use of this dialogue was one such slip-up," Sasidharan said.
The director also revealed that the film was planned with Tovino Thomas, Manju Warrier, Murali Gopy and Sudheer Karamana. He also claimed that he had also approached the production company Century Films at the time and all of them had read the screenplay. Sanal also added that he will be publishing his screenplay on social media soon.
Thudarum was written by KR Sunil and directed by Tharun Moorthy. It was produced by M Renjith under the banner of Rejaputhra Visual Media.
Apart from Mohanlal, the film also starred Shobana, Prakash Varma, Binu Pappu, Maniyanpillai Raju, Thomas Mathew, Farhaan Faasil, and Arsha Baiju in significant roles. Reportedly, Thudarum made a gross collection of Rs 234.5 crore worldwide. It is currently streaming on JioHotstar.
