The Madras High Court on Monday announced the release of two big-budget Tamil films — “Thangalan” starring “Chiyaan” Vikram and “Kanguva” starring Suriya. A trial bench of the apex court, comprising Justices G Jayachandran and CV Karthikeyan, directed the production house “Studio Green” headed by KE Gnanavelraja to deposit Rs 10 crore each for the two films with the official assignee on or before Wednesday, August 14.
Suriya’s protagonist Awhile will be released in theatres on October 10, while Vikram’s film `Thangalaan` will be released in theatres on August 15. Both the films are backed by the same production house which has been ordered by the court to make the deposit.
The orders were issued on an execution petition filed by the appointed high court officer, who had been entrusted with the task of recovering the debts of insolvent businessman Arjunlal Sunderdas (now deceased).
The official assignee had filed an application in the high court in 2016 stating that Sunderdas, accused of duping people of several crores of rupees by allegedly luring them to invest in his financial and real estate ventures, had decided to co-produce a film in association with Studio Green in 2011 by investing Rs 40 crore.
Sunderdas had paid Rs 12.85 crore to the production house on different dates between September 2011 and October 2012, but decided to back out midway due to shortage of funds.
However, the production company said it was unable to refund the full amount, claiming that the money was spent on pre-production work.
The bankrupt recovered only Rs 2.5 crore, leaving a balance of Rs 10.35 crore. The official administrator urged the court to direct the production house to deposit Rs 10.35 crore with 18 per cent interest since December 2013 so that the depositors of the late Sunderdas could recover their money.
Studio Green opposed the application filed by the official assignee on the grounds that it had set off the amount due to Sunderdas by giving him the Hindi remake rights of three Tamil films titled `All in All Azhaguraja`, `Biriyani` and `Madras`, and asked him to sell those rights using his contacts in Bollywood.
However, the production company could only produce a photocopy of the alleged agreement between them to prove its claim, stating that the original agreement was destroyed in the 2015 floods.
The division court on August 29, 2019, admitted the application of the official assignee after holding that the claim made by the production house did not inspire confidence.
(with inputs from IANS)
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