Rajinikanth’s Kochadaiiyaan Producer Likely To Face Jail Time In Cheque Bouncing Case; Madras HC Warns Pay Rs 2.52 Cr Or Else

Rajinikanth’s 2014 Tamil-language animated period action film – Kochadaiiyaan is in the headlines again and not for good reasons. As per a recent media report, the Madras High Court has directed the producer of the film to pay the advertising agency that financed the photorealistic motion capture a compensation or face jail time. For those who don’t know, during the final stages, the production house took financial support from an advertising and media company to complete and release the film.

That funding later became the source of a legal dispute. Read on to know all about it.

Rajinikanth’s Kochadaiiyaan Producer To Face Jail Time In Cheque Bouncing Case?

As reported by several media outlets – including 123telugu, the Madras High Court has order the producer of Kochadaiiyaan to pay AdBureau Advertising Private Limited Rs 2.52 crore within four weeks as compensation to them financing the photorealistic motion capture movie in 2014. They added that in the event the producers fail to follow through, they will need to serve a six-month simple imprisonment sentence in a cheque bounce case.

About The Case

According to the complainant, Abirchand Nahar of AdBureau Advertising Private Limited, his firm entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with MediaOne Global Entertainment on April 25, 2014 to extend a loan of Rs 20 crore for the post-production work on Kochadaiiyaan. The producers reportedly told the financier that the sale of the lease rights of the movie – in a particular area, would fetch nothing less than Rs 20 crore. They promised to pay 20% of the sale proceeds or a minimum guaranteed profit of Rs 2.40 crore to the financier before selling the rights to any third party.

More About The Case

Following this, the ad agency transferred Rs 10 crore to the bank account of MediaOne on April 28, 2014. However, in December 2014, a cheque issued by the production house got returned with the endorsement, ‘stop payment by the drawer’. Following this, the complaint was filed under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act of 1881. On December 4, 2021, a metropolitan magistrate in Egmore convicted the producer and sentenced him to six months of imprisonment. The magistrate also directed him to pay a compensation of Rs 7.70 crore to the advertising agency or face six more months of imprisonment.

The conviction as well as the sentence was confirmed by an Additional City Civil Court on August 4, 2023. Thereafter, the producer approached the High Court by way of the present revision, claiming to have repaid Rs 12.75 crore. He also accused the ad agency of having used a cheque given as guarantee at a much later date. However, after finding several inconsistencies in the version of the complainant and that of the producer, the judge came to the conclusion that there were enough material to rule that the ad agency had lent only Rs 10 crore, and that it had been repaid Rs 8.74 crore, leaving a balance of Rs 1.26 crore.

Observing that the object of Section 138 of the NI Act was essentially to recover the money covered under a cheque, the judge confirmed the conviction imposed on the film producer, but modified the sentence to a fine of Rs 2.52 crore (twice the existing liability), which the producer was ordered to pay the ad agency as compensation.

About Kochadaiiyaan

Kochadaiiyaan: The Legend is written by KS Ravikumar and directed by Soundarya Rajinikanth. It is India’s first photorealistic motion capture film, featuring characters whose designs were based on the appearance and likeness of their respective actors. Alongside Rajinikanth, the film also featured the likeliness of Deepika Padukone (in her Tamil debut), R. Sarathkumar, Aadhi Pinisetty, Jackie Shroff, Nassar, Shobana and Rukmini Vijayakumar in supporting roles.

The film follows the quest of an 8th-century warrior who seeks revenge after witnessing the unlawful punishment administered to his father, a good-hearted warrior in his kingdom, by the jealous ruler.

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Also Read: Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan’s Film Gets New Director After Sundar C’s Exit; Cibi Chakaravarthi To Helm Project

Grinell Jacinto

With nearly 10 years of experience, Grinell Esther Jacinto is the Desk Head of Bollywood Bubble. Her interests lie in everything that is kaleshi and she loves to dig deeper into the lives of B-town actors. She has a problem though – she loves horror films but will have chills the minute the theatres lights dims. She’s previously worked with Koimoi, UrbanAsian and SpotboyE.