Halitha Shameen has grown to be known for her ability to portray human emotions in different setting with different characters in her films. She began her career with Poovarasam Peepee that was released in 2014. After a long break, she did Sillu Karupatti, an anthology, that got good feedback from critics and did well in box office. He third film was a direct television release named Aeley starring Manikandan and Samuthirakani in leading roles. The film focused on the dimension in relationship between the father and son played by the two actors and was set in a village.
Malayalam director Lijo Jose Pellisery has directed movies including Angamaly Diaries, Jallikattu, Churuli and his latest was Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam starring Mammooty in lead role. His films are know for writing characters that transform from one to another extreme with multiple characters. Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam was in a Tamil Nadu village bordering Kerala was released on Netflix. The director Halitha Shameem made a post on Thursday saying malayalam Movie director Lijo Jose Pellisary accused of stealing aesthetics from her film Aelay in Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam.
Director Halitha Shameem released a statement on facebook saying. She shot her film Aelay in a village that had not appeared in any film before and "Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam has also been shot in the same village and I am ahappy about it". She said the aesthetics that she used in her film have been stolen and “I am shocked”. She went on to explain the resemblances in characters, props and locations in both the film. Halitha Shameem said all the houses she shot in and she left out was there in Lijo Jose’s movie. She also compared the situation in the film, where a Jackie Chan dailogue can be heard in the background are similar. She said she couldn't dismiss the similarities and do anything but address it. She ended the post saying ”You can dismiss mu film Aelay, but I’ll not be quite if the ideas and aestheics from it is mercilessly ripped off".