K.V. Anand directed Suriya starrer Kaappaan which is an U/A certified film scheduled for a release on September 20, 2019 is the latest Tamil biggie to come under the plagiarism scanner after films like Kaththi, Sarkar, 96 and more recently the Atlee directed Bigil. According to one John Charles, Kaappaan is based on his story Saravedi and a court case on the same was heard on Monday, with Justice Krishnaswamy scheduling the next hearing on September 4, 2019.

John Charles who is said to be a film-writer with 10 years of experience in the cine field, is said to have narrated his story with the plot of farmer’s welfare and interlinking of rivers to K.V. Anand in January, 2017. He has also claimed that in Saravedi, his hero a reporter questions the Prime Minister on sharing river water, all of which have been found in the teaser of Kaappaan. 

John Charles filed a court petition on August 20, 2019 (months after Kaappaan teaser was released) claiming story-theft and has also said that his Saravedi story has been copyright registered with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion in Delhi since 2017.