The Madras High Court has given a big shock to renowned director Gautham Vasudev Menon. The court has rejected the appeal filed by his production house Photon Factory. Moreover, upholding the earlier verdict in the case, it has ordered R.S. Infotainment to pay Rs. 4.25 crore with 12 percent interest per annum. The origins of this case date back to November 27, 2008. At that time, Photon Factory had signed an agreement with Elred Kumar’s R.S. Infotainment for the film Production No. 6. As per this agreement, the film was to be completed by April 5, 2009.
Producer Elred Kumar paid a total of Rs. 4.25 crores in several installments for this project. However, the film did not start within the stipulated time. Due to this, despite being given an additional deadline of February 12, 2010, the project did not move forward. In this context, the producer approached the court in 2013. He said that the film was not completed as per the agreement and demanded that the amount paid be returned with interest. He also explained to the court that the amount should be paid with 24 percent interest as mentioned in the agreement. In this case, Gautham Menon argued on behalf of the film ‘Neethane En Ponvasantham’ (‘Eto Vellipoyend Manasu’ in Telugu) that they had made under that agreement. Therefore, he told the court that his responsibility was fulfilled.
However, the court rejected this argument. The court clarified that the film was made under a different contract. With this, Gautham Menon and his company were ordered to pay Rs. 4.25 crores with 12 percent annual interest. Recently, when the case came up for hearing before the division bench, it completely rejected the appeal. The previous verdict was upheld. It also ordered an additional Rs. 12 lakhs to be paid as court costs and lawyer fees. With this verdict, this dispute that has been going on for more than a decade has come to an end. While this has become a huge financial burden for Gautham Menon, it is believed that justice has been done to the producer.
