NEW DELHI: THE Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered a firm, which has actor Rajinikanth’s wife Latha Rajinikanth as a director, to pay the dues of Rs 6.2 crore to an advertising agency, which had given the money to the firm during the post-production of 2014 film Kochadaiiyaan within 12 weeks.
A bench comprising Justices Ranjan Gogoi and R Banumathi clarified that if the firm - Mediaone Global Entertainment Ltd - does not pay the dues to AD-Bureau Advertising Pvt Ltd within three months, then Latha would have to pay the amount as per the undertaking given by her.
“On the basis of the aforesaid statement made on behalf of the respondent-accused, we adjourn the hearing of the case by three months,” the bench said and posted the matter for hearing on July 3.
The court also ordered the firm to pay back the interest for the Rs 10 crore loan it took from Ad-Bureau, which distributes films.
Kochadaiiyaan, which released in 2014, was a box-office debacle. The movie, directed by Rajnikanth’s daughter Soundarya Rajinikanth, used ‘photorealistic performance capture technology’.
Ad-Bureau moved the apex court two years later alleging that Latha had not repaid Rs 6.2 crore to them.
The apex court’s direction came on a plea filed by the advertising agency against the March 10, 2016 order of the Karnataka High Court quashing the proceedings against Latha, which were initiated after a trial court order.
Latha had approached the High Court after the trial court had referred the private complaint filed by the advertising agency to the police for investigation.
The advertising agency had alleged in its complaint that they had ventured in the post production of Kochadaiiyaan, on Latha Rajinikanth’s personal guarantee and had funded Rs 10 crore for it.