The Madras High Court has restrained production banner Studio Green from releasing two of its upcoming big films, ‘Thangalaan’ and ‘Kanguva’ until the studio pays a sum of Rs 1 crore for each film.
‘Thangalaan’ is set to release on August 15, while ‘Kanguva’ will hit big screens on October 10.
The bench of Justice G Jayachandran and Justice CV Karthikeyan have instructed Studio Green to pay the sum based on an executive petition filed by an Official Assignee appointed by the High Court to deal with the estate of the late realtor and financier Arjunlal Sunderdas after he was declared insolvent.
This is in accordance with a division bench order in 2019 allowing a petition filed by the Official Assignee directing the production company to pay a sum of Rs. 10,35,00,000/- with an interest of 18% p.a.
Gnanavel’s side countered the petition by informing the court that Sunderdas and Studio Green had agreed to co-produce a film by investing Rs 40 crore each. While Sunderdas is said to have paid an initial amount for pre-production expenses, Gnanavel said that due to the former’s inability to pay the remaining amount, an understanding was reached wherein the Hindi remake rights of ‘All in All Azhaguraja’, ‘Biriyani’, and ‘Madras’ could be sold by Sunderdas for the amount already paid.
With not enough clarity about this purported agreement between Gnanavel and the late Sunderdas, and no proper documentation of the sharing of remake rights, the court rejected Studio Green’s defense and allowed the official assignee’s petition.
Hence, the production company has been instructed to deposit Rs 1 crore on August 14, a day before the release of ‘Thangalaan’, and give a similar deposit before October 9, a day before the release of ‘Kanguva’.