In an embarrassing setback for Latha Rajinikanth, the Supreme Court pulled her up for defying an earlier order by the apex court which ruled that she was to pay Rs 6.2 crore to Ad Bureau, a private company which financed Kochadaiiyaan, within 12 weeks.
Cautioning her over the non-payment of dues, the Supreme Court said, “If the pending dues are not paid, you will have to face trial.”
SC pulls up Latha Rajinikanth for not complying with its order and her undertaking in paying dues to Ad Bureau firm over Kochadaiyan movie agreement, adjourns the matter for next Tuesday
— Arvind Gunasekar (@arvindgunasekar) July 3, 2018
Earlier in February, the apex court also ordered the firm MediaOne to pay back the interest for the Rs 10 crore loan it took from Ad Bureau, which distributes films.
The court had also warned at the time that failure to repay the amount on time would hold Latha Rajinikanth, who is MediaOne’s director, liable to personally settle the amount.
In April this year, the Supreme Court dismissed a petition filed by Latha's company MediaOne which had stated that of the Rs 10 crores, Rs 9.20 crores had been paid to Ad Bureau.
Ad Bureau had lent Rs 10 crore to MediaOne headed by Latha Rajinikanth for the post production of the animated Rajinikanth starrer Kochadaiiyaan. In a police complaint filed in November 2014, against Latha and Kochadaiiyaan producer J Murali Manohar, Ad Bureau Advertising Pvt Ltd accusing them of cheating them out of the distribution rights for the movie in Tamil Nadu, after agreeing to the same, and an investment of Rs 10 crore.
Kochadaiiyaan, which released in 2014, was a box-office debacle. Directed by Rajinikanth's daughter Soundarya Rajinikanth, the film used ‘photorealistic performance capture technology.’ Bollywood actor Deepika Padukone starred as the female lead opposite Rajinikanth in the film. In the first weekend, The movie made Rs 30 crore in India and Rs 12 crore overseas in its first weekend, however, ticket sales nosedived soon after and the movie eventually bombed at the box-office.