Ahead of the ‘Ilaiyaraaja 75’ event, producer JSK Satish Kumar has filed a petition in the Madras High Court against the Tamil Film Producers Council, seeking a stay on the event because of financial discrepancies within the council.
The event is being organised to commemorate the music maestro Ilaiyaraaja’s 75th birthday, and to collect funds for the TFPC. It is scheduled to happen at the YMCA grounds in Nandanam, Chennai, on February 2 and 3.
Speaking about the issue, producer Satish told Silverscreen, “In 2009, when Rama Narayanan was the president, the council had a deposit fund of Rs 3.5 crore. During Thanu’s period there was Rs 7.5 crore. But after Vishal took over, the general body meeting did not happen and we are blind about the fund.”
He said, “Currently the council has only Rs 30 lakh. Now, during the elections, they are spending the money saying they will refund it with the amount they get from the event. But, what is the agenda? How will they collect the money? In the future if they say that they couldn’t make the refund, then what will happen to the deposit? How will it be replaced?”
“So our point is deposit the amount first and then continue with the event,” he said. Satish also claimed that there was no transparency in the accounts, and asked TFPC and its president Vishal Krishna where they spend the amount of Rs 7 crore.
When asked why didn’t he approach Vishal directly, Satish said, “The main reason we approached the court is because Vishal is not accessible at this point. He is not giving us any positive reply, or any reply, so we approached the court. Otherwise there is no personal enmity with either Ilaiyaraaja or Vishal.”
The defendant Vishal’s team, who were also present during the hearing, are said to have agreed that they spent the council’s Rs 7 crore. They also said that the ‘Ilaiayraaja 75’ event is being conducted just to raise funds and repay the deposit amount.
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Bookings for the event have begun, and ticket prices start from Rs 885. The first two tickets were bought by Nasser and his wife. Microplex director Albert, producer and treasurer of TFPC SR Prabhu and Vishal bought ten tickets for Rs 2.5 lakh each during the event launch.
The curtain raiser was held at the Mahindra World city earlier this month. It was attended by the office bearers of the TFPC and other celebrities.
Actors Vishal, Vijay Sethupathi, Arya, Karthi and a 10 member actor group, will be part of the main event. Jayam Ravi, Jiiva, Vishnu Vishal and others will also attend the function.This move is aimed at increasing the footfall for the event, as the fans of these actors are expected to follow suit.