Manmadha Leelai gets court nod to release as scheduled

Justice M Sundar of the Madras High Court on Wednesday passed a direction to release filmmaker Venkat Prabhu’s Manmadha Leelai as scheduled for release on April 1.

The judge passed the order on hearing the petition moved by Flying Horse Pictures represented by its managing partner S Hari Bhaskaran against the producers of Manmadha Leelai named Rockfort Entertainment LLP.

According to the petitioner, the respondent should have to pay dues of Rs 2.22 crore before releasing the movie. “The respondent film production company named Rockfort Entertainment LLP should deposit Rs 30 lakh in four weeks and their film Manmadha Leelai can be released as per their schedule,” the judge observed.

Flying Horse pictures submitted they had produced a movie Irandam Kuthu in 2020 and the respondent had entered into an agreement to acquire the rights of the movie by paying Rs 4.85 crore.

“However, the respondent paid only Rs 2.85 crore. When we demanded the due amount, the respondent wanted to terminate the rights by entering into another agreement. As per the new agreement, we and the respondent have to share the revenue in the ratio of 60:40 after the release of the Irandam Kuthu movie. However, the movie did not go well and we earned only Rs 59.57 lakh. As per the agreement, the respondent has to pay Rs 2.22 crore including the interest at the rate of 24 per cent per annum and the same was not settled,” the petitioner stated.