'Acharya' has come to hog headlines for all the wrong reasons ever since aspirant director Rajesh Manduri on Wednesday alleged that Mythri Movie Makers had passed on his story to Koratala Siva, who he says has converted his story into 'Acharya'. Mythri has responded strongly to the allegation, going to the extent of warning of legal action. Mythri's statement on Thursday came minutes after Ram Charan's Konidela Production Company and Matinee Entertainment put out a strong rebuttal.
"Rajesh narrated a story to us but it was not strong. Had it been good, we ourselves would have produced the movie with appropriate casting," Mythri said.
It added that the banner is not averse to introducing a new talent as a director. "When we have the reputation of introducing three new directors in the last one year, namely, Bharath Kamma ('Dear Comrade'), Rithesh Rana ('Mathu Vadalara') and Sana Buchi Babu ('Uppena'), what would have stopped us from introducing another new director if the story was so good?" the banner asked in the statement.
Mythri took a strong exception to the allegation that Koratala Shiva is a plagiarizing maker. "He is a man of ethics and high principles. It is unfortunate that this Rajesh without any evidence or proof has gone to the media to tarnish our image and the image of Koratala Shiva garu. His actions and outbursts in media are strongly condemned by us and without any hesitation, we would like to state that appropriate action against him will be taken by us," the banner added.
