The Madras High Court on Friday, June 23, 2023 granted time till June 28 for Udhayanidhi Stalin, Minister for Youth Welfare and Sports Development, who’d previously had an acting career, to file a counter affidavit to an application by a film producer, to restrain the release of the movie Maamannan, in which he stars, along with actor Vadivelu and others.
Justice K. Kumaresh Babu said, he was not inclined to grant an interim injunction without hearing the other side. He, therefore, granted time till June 28 for senior counsel N.R. Elango, representing the actor and production house Red Giant Movies, to file a counter affidavit since the movie was scheduled to release on June 30.
In his affidavit, the applicant, film producer Rama Saravanan of OST Films, claimed to have entered into an oral agreement with Mr. Udhayanidhi in 2018 to play the lead role in a movie titled Angel directed by K.S. Adhiyaman. He also claimed to have paid an advance of ₹30 lakh to Mr. Udhayanidhi, as against the total agreed remuneration of ₹1.25 crore.
The producer said, the shooting for Angel took place for 24 days in various locations in Tamil Nadu and for about 38 days in Fiji and almost 80% of the shooting was completed in 2019. However, thereafter, it could not proceed due to various reasons such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the induction of Mr. Udhayanidhi into the council of Ministers.
Claiming that he had spent ₹13 crore on the production of Angel and required eight more days of the Mr. Udhayanidhi’s call sheet to complete it, the producer said, he would end up suffering a loss of ₹25 crore if the movie did not see the light of the day due to the Mr. Udhayanidhi’s decision to not act in any more movies.
Further, stating that Mr. Udhayanidhi had acted in another movie titled Maamannan, “produced by his own production firm Red Giant”, before assuming office as Minister and claimed that this would be his last movie, the applicant urged the court to grant an interim injunction restraining the release of Maamannan on June 30.
In the alternative, the applicant sought a direction to the actor to pay him a compensation of ₹25 crore for the loss suffered due to Angel.
