Kanguva cannot be released without depositing ₹20 crore: Madras High Court

Suriya-starrer Kanguva release hinges on producer depositing ₹20 crore by Wednesday midnight, per Madras High Court.

The much-awaited release of Suriya-starrer Kanguva on Thursday now hinges on the ability of its producer K.E. Gnanavelraja to deposit ₹20 crore, on or before Wednesday midnight, to the credit of the Official Assignee of the Madras High Court.

A Division Bench of Justices G. Jayachandran and C.V. Karthikeyan ordered that the movie, also starring Bollywood actors Bobby Deol and Disha Patani, should not be released as scheduled on Thursday without depositing the money within the stipulated time.

The orders were passed on an application filed by the Official Assignee urging the court to modify an order passed by it on August 12 permitting the release of Kanguva on deposit of just ₹1 crore. The applicant insisted that the producer should be directed to deposit entire liability of ₹26.34 crore.

The dispute related to the litigation dates back to 2011 when Mr. Gnanavelraja had entered into an agreement with businessman Arjunlal Sunderdas (since dead) for co-producing a movie by investing ₹40 crore each. As per the agreement, the businessman had invested ₹12.85 crore before backing off from the project.

Subsequently, in 2014, the High Court declared Arjunlal Sunderdas as an insolvent and directed the Official Assignee to take stock of all his assets and liabilities so that hundreds of people who had deposited money in his real estate and finance companies could be repaid their dues.

While conducting an assessment as directed by the court, the Official Assignee found that Mr. Gnanavelraja had to repay ₹10.35 crore to the insolvent, and therefore, filed an application before the High Court in 2016 seeking a direction to him to repay the amount with 18% interest from 2013.

The Division Bench allowed the application in 2019 and directed the producer to repay the entire liability of ₹10.35 crore with interest to the credit of the Official Assignee. Though he took the order on appeal to the Supreme Court, the latter dismissed his appeal on September 2, 2024.