Madras High Court rejects civil suit filed by film producer against Udhayanidhi Stalin

Justice R.M.T. Teekaa Raman holds that the suit is barred by limitation and hence, it cannot be entertained

The Madras High Court on Wednesday (November 20, 2024) rejected a civil suit filed by a film producer seeking compensation of ₹25 crore from Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin for reportedly not having completed his film Angel before deciding to stop acting in movies and concentrate on politics full-time.

Justice R.M.T. Teekaa Raman allowed an application filed by Mr. Udhayanidhi this year to reject the plaint filed in support of the civil suit, which was filed last year, in which the producer Rama Saravanan of OST Films had insisted on issuing a direction to the applicant to complete the shooting and dubbing work.

In the alternative, he had insisted on issuing a direction to the applicant to pay a compensation of ₹25 crore. Last year, the producer had also sought an interim injunction restraining the release of Mr. Udhayanidhi’s last movie Maamannan unless he completes Angel, but the court had refused to grant it.

In his plaint, Mr. Rama Saravanan had claimed to have entered into an oral agreement with Mr. Udhayanidhi in 2018 for acting in Angel and paid him an advance of ₹30 lakh, out of his total remuneration of ₹1.25 crore.

Though the movie was shot in different locations in Chennai and in some locations in Fiji too, the production could not be completed due to the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the assumption of office by Mr. Udhayanidhi as the Minister for Youth Welfare and Sports Development, the applicant told the court.

Since Mr. Udhayanidhi had announced that Maamannan would be his last movie and he would not act in any movies henceforth, the applicant had approached the court complaining that 80% of the production work of Angel was complete and that he required the cooperation of Mr. Udhayanidhi to finish the rest.

The producer also claimed to have already spent ₹13 crore on producing Angel and said that he would ultimately suffer a loss of around ₹25 crore if the movie does not see the light of the day.

On the other hand, Senior Counsel N.R. Elango argued that the suit was barred by limitation since it ought to have been filed on or before May 31, 2022, and not on June 14, 2023. Concurring with the argument, Justice Raman wrote: “On the expiry of the limitation period, the claim becomes time-barred and a suit cannot be laid on a time-barred claim. Hence, the applicant/defendant cannot be called upon to undergo ordeal of trial in a time-barred suit.”

Published - November 20, 2024 01:55 pm IST