There is a major storm brewing behind Megastar’s Acharya as a co-director named Rajesh Manduri made tall claims about the story of this Koratala Siva directorial. We all know that the much awaited magnum opus of Megastar Acharya is about to resume its regular shooting. This flick which is being directed by successful director Koratala Siva is appearing in the media for all the wrong reasons lately. Rajesh Manduri who is working as a co-director in the industry is claiming that the story of Acharya is his brainchild. These are excerpts from an interview we had with him over the phone.
Why are many people claiming this story?
I don’t know about the others but this story belongs to me. As they have foreseen that I am about to claim my rights, some others have been introduced into the scene strategically in order to sideline my true claims.
When did you write this story?
I want to become a director and have been trying since 2016. Previously, I worked under B Gopal and have written this story in 2017. I hail from Addanki constituency and met our MLA Gottipati Ravi Kumar with the help of a family friend Gorantla Pariah. Ravi Kumar heard one of the stories I had and got impressed and fixed a meeting with owners of Mythri Movies Banner. I narrated the same story to Yalamanchili Ravi Kumar and CEO, Chiranjeevi (Cherry) on October 3rd, 2017. Ravi left abruptly during the meeting while Cherry listened to the whole narration keeping his voice recorder on. Now, I am shocked to see my story in the hands of Koratala Siva.
Haven’t you registered the script or taken any security measures?
I have registered my script in the Writer’s Association and that’s why I narrated the script to Mythri Movies. On the first day of narration, Cherry left the office after the first-half saying that he got a call from family. He continued listening on the second day and told me that he is very much impressed. He further added that the script requires a heavy budget and a top director like Koratala Siva to pitch to a leading hero. But I made it clear that I want to direct the script and not interested to give it to another director.
What was his reply?
He advised me to make low and medium budget films like Arjun Reddy, Geeta Govindam and RX 100 first. Our meeting concluded with Cherry promising that he will get back to me after meeting the producers. But I haven’t heard from them since then and learnt about their denial through Gottipati Ravi Kumar owing to the heavy budget involved and my resistance to sell the story.
What did you do from then?
I have been trying to make a film. With assistance from a friend, I met a Tamil producer named SP Chowdary who produced Dagaalty and convinced him. Elections came and halted my endeavour to narrate the script to Balakrishna. In the meanwhile, Megastar’s movie with Koratala took off. I was shocked to hear that Koratala is using my storyline through friends. Following an advice given by Telugu Film Directors Association’s Vice President Bhaskar Reddy, I contacted Koratala’s co-director Chalasani Ramarao and told him that I want to speak to Siva. Ramarao told me that Siva is not interested in meeting me and when I told the co-director about my storyline, just to reconfirm, he corroborated that it is the same story that his boss is directing.
What’s happening now?
I met Director’s Association President Sankar and Secretary G Ramprasad to explain the situation. Sankar told me that he contacted Siva and got a different version of events from him as a reply and he suggested me to file a complaint with Writers’ Association President Paruchuri Gopala Krishna. I took the issue to Writers’ Association on January 6th and lodged a complaint on Mythri Movies and Siva. Since then nothing has happened as the issue hasn’t been escalated neither to Disputes Committee nor the Story Rights forum. They simply advised me to go to the court and I am deeply disturbed by these happenings. I can’t take this after spending 18 long years in the industry and even our MLA is helpless in this issue.
Why don’t you take the issue to Chiranjeevi?
I respect Chiranjeevi Sir a lot and even asked some of the elders to take the issue to his notice. I respected his philosophy not to create controversies by talking to media. Since I am left with no other alternative, I am approaching media with all the witnesses so that the matter will reach Ram Charan and Chiranjeevi Sir.
How will you take your fight forward?
Until now I am fighting behind the veils. I registered the synopsis in 2017 and the entire script in 2018. I named it ‘Peddayana’ and Siva changed it to ‘Acharya’. As I decided to come and reveal the whole fraud on social media, they played against me by bringing some other names. I have evidence that proves they stole my subject and nobody can escape from my fight for justice.
