Madras High Court dismisses plea against Kamal Haasan's Vishwaroopam 2 release

The Madras High Court has dismissed a plea filed by production house Pyramid Saimira against the release of Kamal Haasan's magnum opus, 'Vishwaroopam 2'.
While Ghibran is the music director, Kamal Haasan himself has written, directed and co-produced the spy thriller, which will simultaneously hit the screens in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi.
While Ghibran is the music director, Kamal Haasan himself has written, directed and co-produced the spy thriller, which will simultaneously hit the screens in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi.

The Madras High Court has dismissed a plea filed by production house Pyramid Saimira against the release of Kamal Haasan's magnum opus, 'Vishwaroopam 2'.

Since no reason was given by PSPIL for not approaching the Commercial Division earlier, the principle that it is not desirable to approach the court in the eleventh hour in cases of this nature militates against the production company, Justice M Sundar said.

Its main suits relating to the film ‘Marmayogi’ and the subsequent one ‘Unnaipol oruvan’ were pending before the Commercial Division. Hence, it should have approached only the division, the judge said.

Fifty per cent of the suit claim in the original civil suit filed in 2009, which is part of the claim under the suit agreement, has clearly been secured by way of bank guarantee and it is not in dispute that the same is subsisting even as of today, the judge pointed out.

“In the light of the narrative supra, it follows as a sequitur and necessary corollary that PSPIL is not entitled to any relief in the instant applications,” the judge said and dismissed them.

With this, 'Vishwaroopam 2', written and directed by Kamal Haasan will be releasing tomorrow.

Pyramid Saimira Productions International had moved a civil suit against Kamal Haasan for the recovery fo Rs 5.44 crore.

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 installments 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 had last week 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.

"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 had submitted.

The interim prayer is to restrain the defendants from in any manner parting with the film or releasing it.
It alleged that Kamal Haasan and others are clandestinely planning to release the film. Unless the prayers are granted, the plaintiff could never get back the money lent and would be made to suffer irreparable loss, it added.

Starring Kamal Haasan as Major Wisam Ahmad Kashmiri, a RAW agent, 'Vishwaroopam 2' is the sequel of the 2013 hit with the same name.

While Ghibran is the music director, Kamal Haasan himself has written, directed and co-produced the spy thriller, which will simultaneously hit the screens in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi.

(with inputs from Online Desk)

The film also has Pooja Kumar, Andrea, Shekhar Kapur and Rahul Bose in important roles. 

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