Dispute over film shooting: Madras HC issues notice to Deputy CM Udhayanidhi

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court issued notice to Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin in an appeal by a film producer regarding a suit seeking compensation from the actor cum politician.

A division bench of Justices Anita Sumanth and C Kumarappan issued private notice to the deputy CM in an appeal moved by Ramasaravanan, proprietor of OST Films, seeking to set aside a single judge order rejecting his plaint against Udhayanidhi. The matter was posted to March 18, for further proceedings.

Advocate T Thiyageswaran, submitted that the single judge erroneously rejected his plaint by simply brushing aside the factual matrix and has arrived at the conclusion that the WhatsApp messages between his client and Udhayanidhi were self-serving statements. “Udhayanidhi did not object to the messages sent to him by the appellant recording the shooting schedule, which clearly established the fact that he accepted to take part in the shooting, which he cannot disagree belatedly now,” added the advocate.

Ramasaravanan moved a civil suit against the release of Udhayanidhi-starrer ‘Maamannan’, and claimed that he had an oral agreement with the young politician that he would play the lead role in ‘Angel’. “After the inception of the project, we began shooting in 2018. While 80% of the shooting was completed, Udhayanidhi announced his retirement from acting and said ‘Maamannan’ would be his last film,” said the producer.

He also alleged that the deputy CM was not cooperating to complete his film project, hence he suffered Rs 13 crore which was spent on the project.