Just when Dhruva Natchathiram appeared to be moving closer to release after recent court relief, the film has landed in another round of legal proceedings.

The Madras High Court on Tuesday directed that fresh pleas connected to the long-delayed Vikram-starrer be placed before Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy, who had earlier passed the April 30 order clearing the way for the film’s release.

Justice K Kumaresh Babu was hearing three new applications related to the matter. One of them was filed by filmmaker Gautham Vasudev Menon, who has now sought time till July 15, 2026, to release the film. At the same time, investors K Punniyamoorthy and K Premkumar moved court seeking changes to the April order. They requested that ₹10.22 crore allegedly due to them be set aside before the film is allowed to hit theatres.

The investors have also filed another application raising questions about the financial details submitted by Gautham before the court. They sought directions for the court-appointed observers to take the help of an independent auditor to verify the list of creditors presented by the filmmaker and determine whether the claimed dues are genuinely connected to Dhruva Natchathiram.

Since the investors are asking for modifications to the April 30 order, Justice Kumaresh Babu observed that such pleas must be heard by the same judge who passed the original order. He therefore referred all three applications to Justice Ramamoorthy.

The matter has now been listed for hearing on June 24. The development comes days after a Division Bench of the Madras High Court dismissed appeals filed by the investors against the earlier order that had revived hopes of a theatrical release for the film.

Starring Vikram and directed by Gautham Menon, Dhruva Natchathiram has remained unreleased for years amid financial and legal hurdles despite multiple release announcements.