Kamal Haasan is in a spot yet again, years after his Vishwaroopam-1 gave him a tough time. The sequel, Vishwaroopam-2, is due to release on August 10, but Haasan faces trouble from a productuon compan which has taken him to court over unpaid dues of Rs 7.75 crore.

The Madras High Court on Friday directed the actor-turned-politician to file his reply by August 6 to the petition filed by Pyramid Saimira, a movie production company.

The court issued a notice to the actor asking him to reply by August 6, the next date for hearing.

Pyramid Saimira has alleged that Kamal Haasan owed it Rs.7.75 crore. The company says the dues cannot be recovered from the actor if Vishwaroopam-2 is allowed to release.

According to the company, it had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Raaj Kamal Films International -- Kamal Haasan is one of the partners -- for joint production of a Tamil movie Marmayogi. According to the petitioner, they had signed a memorandum of understanding with Rajkamal Films on April 2, 2008 for the production of Marmayogi at an estimated budget of Rs 100 crore.

As per the MoU, Kamal Haasan had agreed to play a lead role in Marmayogi, pen the story, screenplay and dialogues.

It is alleged that Pyramid Saimira paid Kamal Haasan Rs.10.9 crore in two instalments. It was acknowledged by the actor through a confirmation letter dated September 25, 2008, the petitioner stated. 

The petitioner alleged that Haasan never showed interest in commencing the production of the film even after the payment and instead tried to release another film, Unnaipol Oruvan, by diverting the money paid to him for Marmayogi.

The court subsequently allowed the film to be released after obtaining a bank guarantee from the actor and the suit was in the trial stage, the petitioner submitted.

(With inputs from IANS)