In light of Dhanush‘s paternity row, the actor and his father Kasthoori Raja on Friday, sent a legal notice to the elderly couple, who claimed the actor to be their long-lost estranged son.
The notice warned the couple that if they fail to issue a press statement denying their allegations, a defamation case will be filed against them.
As is widely believed and asserted by the actor himself, Dhanush is the son of Tamil filmmaker Kasthoori Raja and his wife Vijayalakshmi. He was born as Venkatesh Prabhu to the couple on July 28, 1983. However, in 2016, Dhanush’s paternal roots was called into question, when a couple named R Kathiresan and K Meenakshi from Melur, Tamil Nadu, filed a legal complaint at Madras High Court, claiming that Dhanush was their estranged biological son, who ran away to Chennai in order to become an actor.
While the case is still pending in court, in a new development, Dhanush and Kasthoori Raja, on Friday, sent a legal notice to the couple, through their advocate Haja Mohideen Gisthi.
As per the notice accessed by Silverscreen India, Dhanush and Kasthoori Raja, once again, asserted the actor’s birth details and said that he attended Thai Sathya Matriculation School, Saligramam. The notice further said that Dhanush entered the film industry in 2002 with Thulluvadho Ilamai, which became a box-office hit, after which he officially changed his name to K Dhanush, by issuing a Gazette Notification at the Tamil Nadu Government Gazette dated December 17, 2003.
The notice claimed that in order to “cause embarrassment and anguish” to Kasthoori Raja, Vijayalakshmi and Dhanush, and to “cause hardship, to blackmail and exhort money” from them, the couple “preferred frivolous and vexatious” petition before the Judicial Magistrate of Melur by making “false, fraudulent and fabulously specious claims” that the actor is their biological son.
The notice further read, “Even though the claim is false and without any semblance of truth or merit in Learned Judicial Magistrate, Melur issued notice to my client Mr K Dhanush. Not contended with filing the petition both of you went to the press and media and claimed undue publicity. Both my clients were put to suffer great humiliation and embarrassment besides mental agony.”
Recommended
Even as the Court proceedings were quashed, it stated that the couple “enacted several dramas” to show that Dhanush is their biological son. The couple had also claimed a monthly maintenance amount of Rs 65,000 per month from Dhanush and arrears of Rs 7,85,000.
“You described my client Mr. Kasthoori Raja as a film mafia and stated that he tried to murder both of you. These allegations are ex facie false, factually untenable and legally unsustainable and are made with a view to defame my client No.1 and cause a serious dent in his reputation,” it added.
Giving the couple a warning as to not make false claims, the notice stated that Dhanush and his father will initiate civil and criminal proceedings for “defamation and loss of reputation” and demand Rs 10 crore as compensation, if they consistently kept up their allegations. It also demanded the couple to issue a press statement, noting that all the allegations made by them were false and issue an apology for the same.