Madras High Court Directs Production Company 'Studio Green' To Deposit ₹1 Crore Each Before Releasing 'Thangalaan' And 'Kanguva' Movies

The bench of Justice G Jayachandran and Justice CV Karthikeyan made the orders on an execution petition filed by an Official Assignee appointed by the High Court to deal with the estate of realtor and financier Arjunlal Sunderdas after he was declared insolvent. In 2019, the division bench had allowed a petition filed by the Official Assignee directing Studio Green to pay a sum of Rs. 10,35,00,000/- with an interest of 18% p.a.

With Thangalaan slated to release on 15^th August, the court directed Rs. 1 Crore to be paid before 14^th August and file a compliance report with the High Court on the same day. The court further directed another Rs 1 Crore to be paid before the release of the Kanguva movie.

Background

In 2014, Sunderdas was declared insolvent and an official assignee took steps to determine the debtors and creditors of his estate. Noting that KE Gnanavel Raja from Studio Green had to pay a sum of Rs. 10,35,00,000 to Sunderdas, the official assignee approached the court for orders.

Countering this application, Gnanavel informed the court that he and Sunderdas had entered into an agreement to co-produce a tamil movie by investing Rs 40 crore each. He added that as part of this agreement, Sunderdas had paid him money for the pre-production expenses. However, when Sunderdas expressed his inability to pay the remaining amount, an understanding was reached wherein Gnanavel agreed to grant the Hindi remake rights of three Tamil movies – All in All Azaguraja, Biriyani, and Madras which Sunderdas could sell using his contacts in the Hindi film industry.

The court noted that though Gnanavel contended that he had entered into a contract with Sunderdas and thus didn't owe him any money, there was no evidence to prove the same. The court also noted that though there was a mention of granting the Hindi remake rights, no one from Gemini Colour Laboratory, which had the rights, was summoned to speak about the document.

Thus, finding that the documents were neither admissible nor proven in the manner known to the law, the court rejected the defense of Studio Green and allowed the official assignee's petition.

The official assignee had filed the current execution petition after the 2019 order was not complied with. The official assignee had sought to attach Studio Green's future movies till the orders were complied with.

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Mad) 307

Case Title: The Official Assignee v S Arjunlal Sunderdas (Died) and Others

Case No: EP 65 of 2024