The South Indian Film Editors Association president, Gopi, along with the Film Employees Federation of South India (FEFSI) president, RK Selvamani, spoke to the press on Monday to address allegations regarding the leak of Vijay`s film, Jana Nayagan. At the conference held at FEFSI headquarters in Chennai, they denied the involvement of the film`s editor. Pradeep E. Raghav, in the leak. They claimed that an internal inquiry has cleared him and other editors. However, the statement has further raised eyebrows as it brought Annapurna Studios to suspicion.
Editor`s body denies editor`s involvement
According to news agency ANI, Gopi, during the conference, strongly denied any editor’s involvement in the leak of Vijay`s Jana Nayagan. The association`s president stated that the ‘editors will never do this kind of work’ while clarifying that ‘an internal inquiry had already been conducted by their team’ in the matter.
Adding that six unnamed individuals have already been arrested in the case and a report has already been filed, he noted that ‘the main accused behind the alleged leak will be arrested soon.’ At the conference, Gopi also addressed how people are pointing fingers at Pradeep, the editor of Jana Nayagan, after the videos that leaked online showed it was an edit copy. He clearly stated that Pradeep should not be accused without proof in the matter, as the investigation is still going on.
Annapurna Studios comes under suspicion
Notably, after the censor delay in the release of the film, director H. Vinoth reportedly decided to make further enhancements to Jana Nayagan, according to Christopher Kanagaraj. To make the enhancements, the film’s copy was reportedly sent to Annapurna Studios in Hyderabad for additional CG (computer-generated) work and sound mixing.
The Editors’ Union stated that all the processes were carried out with proper approval from the director and producer. Given that the footage passed through multiple hands during post-production, the alleged violation is believed to have taken place at some stage in this process. This clarification from the Editor`s Union has left many speculating of they were pointing fingers at Annapurna Studios, blaming them for leaking Jana Nayagan.
