The Madras High Court has lifted the interim stay on release of Kalavaani 2, allowing director-producer Sargunam to release the film. Producer Singaravelan of Sri Dhanalakshmi Productions, who petitioned for the stay claiming that the film’s lead actor Vemal owed him money, has appealed once again. The case is yet to come up for hearing.
On April 22, the stay on release was issued on the Vemal and Oviya starrer in response to Singaravelan’s complaint. Singaravelan claimed that Vemal owed him Rs 4.32 crore, an amount that was borrowed to complete films the actor produced and acted in. He borrowed Rs 3 crore for his production Mannar Vagaiyara, and later approached Singaravelan seeking money to complete the shooting of the film and start work on Kalavaani 2. He was given Rs 1 crore, and signed an agreement on October 17, 2018, stating that Singaravelan would receive Kalavaani 2 on a first-copy basis, and the money will be returned in six months.
What prompted Singaravelan to file the petition this month was the trailer of Kalavaani 2, which only credited Varmans Productions – Sargunam’s company. Despite repeated requests to Vemal and Sargunam to honour the agreement, there was no progress, Singaravelan said in a statement. Speaking to Silverscreen, the spokesperson for Singaravelan said that while the lifting of ban allowed Sargunam to release the film, the five other parties against whom the order was issued, including distributors Screen Scene Entertainment, were still not allowed to release the film. He also maintained that Vemal had borrowed the amount for the completion of Kalavani 2, so director Sargunam cannot brush his hands off the issue.
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Director Sargunam and Vemal have been unavailable to comment on this. Sargunam earlier circulated a video saying that the film was produced solely by his company, Varmans Production, and they did not have any dealings with Singaravelan or his production house. He also said that the issue was due to a tussle between Singaravelan and Vemal, and that his film was facing the brunt of it.
Kalavaani 2 was announced in 2016, and also faced issues when Sargunam announced that he would be producing the film with the title K2. The original film’s producer Nazir objected, saying he owned the rights. The film was shelved temporarily, and shooting began once in mid-2018.