The Madras High Court has decided not to stall the rerelease of the 2014 Rajinikanth starrer Kochadaiiyaan with AI-based enhancements. The court found that the financier for the Rajinikanth starrer could not seek a restraining order against the film's rerelease as the financier failed to seek a relief against its assignee company.
According to Justice K Kumaresh Babu, "the plaintiff had not sought for any relief as against the fifth defendant, who is admittedly now assignee of the film," as quoted by LiveLawBiz.
Ad Bureau Advertising Pvt Ltd, which financed the film's production back in 2014, applied for the restraining order. According to agreements dating back to the summer of 2014, Kochadaiiyaan producer Mediaone Global Entertainment Ltd received a transfer of 10 crore from Ad Bureau Advertising, and Mediaone and the company's director Murali Manohar agreed to pay back 20.40 crore to Ad Bureau and provide the latter with rights over Kochadaiiyaan's Tamil Nadu box office collection.
The cheques that were issued towards the repayment of the sum were subsequently dishonoured, leading to legal proceedings as per the Negotiable Instruments Act that are pending in appeal at the Supreme Court.
Besides, Ad Bureau Advertising filed a money recovery suit at HC back in 2015 that mentioned Kochadaiiyaan distributor Eros International and director Soundarya Rajinikanth.
Ad Bureau Advertising recently filed the legal application as it learnt about the film's AI enhancement and planned re-release, where it looked for an interim injunction that would restrain any form of exploitation of this version of the film until the finalisation of the recovery suit.
Ad Bureau Advertising objected the producer's entitlement to release the film again in theatres, citing its lack of repayment. However, the respondents objected to the financier's plea and said that the latter's remedy lies in going after the monetary claim that is part of the recovery suit, which had reached its trial phase. In other words, the respondents cited the lack of basis to halt the rerelease.
Meanwhile, HC noted that while the financier had claimed that Eros International's acquisition of Kochadaiiyaan's rights in a way that is "not bonafide," although it failed to seek any relief against Eros.
