With less than a week left for director Mari Selvaraj’s Maamannan starring Udhayanidhi Stalin to hit the theatres, the Madras High Court has refused a petition to stay the film’s release and given Udhayanidhi time until June 28 to respond. Maamannan is set to release on Friday, June 29.
The court was hearing a petition by a person called Ramasaravanan, who says he is a producer, stating that DMK Minister and actor Udhayanidhi Stalin had failed to complete shooting for his film Angel as promised. The petitioner further says that Udhayandhi had promised to finish the shooting and dubbing for his film before the release of Maamannan, which is to be his last film.
Ramasaravanan has also demanded Rs 25 crores in damages. The petition states that he owns a production company called OST Films and that Udhayanidhi had agreed to a 70-day call sheet in 2017-18. He also said that the actor-politician was paid an advance of Rs 30 lakh to act as the lead in Angel. He further adds that Udhayanidhi had completed 80% of the shooting and that he had eight more days from his call sheet in order to complete the filming. |
The petitioner also alleges that shooting for his film had been delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2021 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, in which Udhayanidhi had contested and won from the Chepauk-Triplicane constituency in Chennai. Ramasarvanan further says in his petition that Udhayanidhi had promised to finish shoots and dubbing for Angel so that it could be released before Maamannan.
The Madras High Court, however, said that it could not pass an injunction against the release of Maamannan without hearing both sides of the case and has directed senior counsel NR Elango, representing Udhayanidhi and his production house Red Giant Movies, to file a counter affidavit by June 28.
Interestingly not many seem to know much of the petitioner. IMDB, a prominent film website, ascribes only two minor acting roles to him and doesn’t seem to credit him with the production of any film.