Madras HC orders Gautham Menon to pay ₹4.25cr to producer
What's the story
The Madras High Court has ordered acclaimed filmmaker Gautham Vasudev Menon and his partnership firm Photon Factory to pay ₹4.25 crore with 12% interest from May 2010 to R.S. Infotainment, a film production company led by S Elred Kumar. The court dismissed an appeal filed by Menon and Photon Factory against a single judge's order directing them to make the payment on Monday.
Background
Case dates back to a civil suit filed in 2013
The case dates back to a civil suit filed by R.S. Infotainment in 2013, accusing Menon of not completing an untitled movie referred to as "production no. 6." Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy had earlier noted that R.S. Infotainment and Photon Factory, with P Madan of Escape Artists as one of the partners, had signed a contract on November 27, 2008, for producing this Tamil movie.
Agreement details
Agreement stipulated R.S. Infotainment would pay ₹13.5 crore
The agreement stipulated that R.S. Infotainment would pay ₹13.5 crore to Photon Factory for production costs, with a deadline of April 5, 2009. If the movie was not completed by then, Photon Factory had to return the amount with 24% annual interest, as R.S. Infotainment would be the producer and negative rights holder. However, production did not begin at all, and R.S. Infotainment filed a civil suit seeking damages after years of delay despite granting more time for completion.
Defense and ruling
Menon and his firm countered the suit
Menon and Photon countered the suit, alleging R.S. Infotainment failed to pay the total agreed amount of ₹13.5 crore on schedule. They also claimed they had initially planned to cast actor Silambarasan in "production no. 6" but later replaced him with actor Jeeva for the lead role. They released this film as Neethaane En Ponvasantham. However, Justice Ramamoorthy found that Neethaane... was produced under a separate agreement between R.S.-Photon-Menon in 2011, unrelated to the 2008 agreement for "production no. 6."
Final order
Court directs Menon and his partnership firm to repay
The court directed Menon and his partnership firm to repay ₹4.25 crore with 12% annual interest from May 2010. They were also ordered to pay costs of ₹12 lakh, which includes ₹9.57 lakh toward court fees and ₹2.5 lakh toward lawyer's fees. The recent ruling was upheld by a Division Bench of Justices P Velmurugan and K Govindarajan Thilakavadi, who dismissed the appeal filed against Justice Ramamoorthy's order on April 5, 2022.