Plea to stop release of Vishwaroopam 2: Kamal Haasan to reply by Monday

Chennai, Aug 4: The Madras High Court has ordered actor Kamal Haasan and his production house Rajkamal Films International to file a reply by Monday in connection with a suit seeking to stall the release of his "Vishwaroopam 2" on August 10.

When the civil suit moved by Pyramid Saimira Productions International against Haasan for recovery of Rs 5.44 crore came up for hearing, Justice C V Karthikeyan issued a notice to the actor and posted the matter for hearing on Monday.

The petitioner has said the money was paid to Haasan's production house for producing a film titled "Marmayogi" in Tamil and Hindi.

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.

An amount of Rs 10.90 crore was paid to Rajkamal Films in two instalments towards the remuneration of Haasan for acting, directing and writing the story, screenplay and dialogue of the film.

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".

However, it was stalled by the petitioner by filing a recovery suit.

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.

"On inquiries, we are given to understand that Kamal Haasan is heavily indebted to various creditors, having borrowed huge amounts from various persons to meet the production expenses of his forthcoming film, "Vishwaroopam 2."

Since he is not able to repay any of the creditors, he is planning to release the film through Aascar Films so as to defeat, delay and defraud his creditors, including ourselves, the petitioner submitted.

As an interim relief, the petitioner wanted the court to pass an injunction, restraining Haasan from releasing the film, pending disposal of the suit.