Madras HC declines relief to director Sudha Kongara, refuses to halt release of Idhayam Murali

The Madras High Court on Friday refused to grant interim relief to filmmaker Sudha Kongara in her plea to restrain the release of the Tamil film Idhayam Murali until the film's producer settles unpaid dues allegedly owed to her for her work in the film Parasakthi [Sudha Kongara Vs Dawn Pictures].

Justice K Kumaresh Babu has also appointed an arbitrator to adjudicate the dispute between Kongara and the film producer, Dawn Pictures.

Kongara had moved the High Court under Section 9 (interim relief) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, claiming that Dawn Pictures owed her ₹8.39 crore towards her remuneration for Parasakthi.

Her case was that the total consideration payable to her under the agreement was ₹15 crore. GST was payable separately, taking the total amount to ₹17.70 crore. She claimed that only ₹9.31 crore had been paid and that ₹8.39 crore remained outstanding.

Kongara sought interim protection from the Court, arguing that Dawn Pictures should not be permitted to release Idhayam Murali without securing the alleged dues. Her counsel submitted that the producer had no substantial assets and that once the film was released, any eventual arbitral award in Kongara’s favour could become difficult to enforce.

Her side also argued that the assignment of rights in the final screenplay and related work of Parasakthi was conditional on full payment of remuneration. It was submitted that Dawn Pictures could not commercially exploit the work while withholding the balance of the contractual payment.

Kongara’s counsel further contended that when invoices were raised, Dawn Pictures did not deny liability outright. Instead, it referred to difficulties faced during the release of Parasakthi, issues with censor certification, advance bookings and OTT and satellite deals not materialising as expected.

Dawn Pictures opposed Kongara's plea. It relied on earlier agreements involving 2D Entertainment and Akra Entertainment, the earlier name of Dawn Pictures, to argue that Kongara had already received amounts in full and final settlement.

The producer argued that a 2021 arrangement involving 2D Entertainment was terminated in December 2024 and that Kongara had acknowledged receipt of ₹4.12 crore for work including story, script, screenplay, dialogues and direction.

On June 30, the Court had directed that there should be no satellite release of Parasakthi till July 8 and had sought Dawn Pictures’ counter on Kongara’s plea.

Advocates Nityesh Natraj and Vaibhav Venkatesh represented Kongara.

Senior Advocate Aravind Pandian represented Dawn Pictures