Producer KE Gnanavelraja of Studio Green Films has filed a counter affidavit at the Madras High Court, claiming that actor Sivakarthikeyan “suppressed various facts” when filing his case alleging non-payment of outstanding remuneration for their 2019 Tamil film Mr Local.
In his petition, Sivakarthikeyan had mentioned that he had made an agreement with the producer on July 6, 2018, for playing the lead role in Mr Local. As per this agreement, the actor was to be paid a compensation of Rs 15 crore total in several instalments, with the final Rs 1 crore to be paid before the release of the film.
The film went on to open to negative reviews, and according to the actor, Gnanavelraja only paid him a sum of Rs 11 crore in all, leaving the balance unpaid despite several reminders. Sivakarthikeyan further alleged that the producer also failed to remit the mandatory TDS (Tax Deducted at Source) to the Income Tax department for that Rs 11 crore, resulting in Sivakarthikeyan getting a notice from the IT department.
When the matter came up for hearing on Thursday, Gnanavelraja’s counsel Vijayan Subramaniam filed the producer’s counter affidavit. In it, the producer claims that at the time of the release of Sivakarthikeyan’s first film Marina in February 2012, the actor had approached the producer several times, seeking to act under his banner. Eventually, the affidavit further states, on March 3, 2013, Studio Green signed a deal with the actor for a film. The remuneration for this project was fixed at Rs 1 crore, with Rs 10 lakh paid as advance. However, the project was shelved as Sivakarthikeyan suddenly stopped responding to phone calls, the producer adds.
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Gnanavelraja further claims that after several rounds of mediation, a new agreement was signed in 2018, with the actor agreeing to do the film for a remuneration of Rs 15 crore. Gnanavelraja alleges that the old agreement was called off, but the advance payment given to the actor earlier was not returned.
The producer also states that the poor performance of Mr Local resulted in a loss of Rs 20 crore for him, but despite this, he managed to pay the actor Rs 12.78 crore as opposed to Rs 11.11 crore that Sivakarthikeyan’s petition cites. The producer claims that only Rs 2.4 crore thus remains due.
The case was heard by Justice M Sundar, who took note of the producer’s counter affidavit and adjourned the matter to Thursday.