The Madras High Court on Monday dismissed a plea filed jointly by filmmaker Gautham Vasudev Menon and his banner Photon Factory against a judge’s order of a Rs 4.25 crore repayment to R.S. Infotainment with interest.

The case stems from an agreement signed on November 27, 2008 by Photon Factory and R.S. Infotainment for a Tamil movie.

As per reports, the production was proposed to begin on December 10, 2008. It was supposed to be wrapped up by April 5, 2009.

Led by S. Elred Kumar, R.S. Infotainment had dedicated itself to fund the project with a sum of Rs 13.5 crore. However, the movie never went on floors, leading to a long-term dispute.

Despite the project not starting, R.S. Infotainment paid Photon Factory Rs 4.25 crore in multiple installments.

The contract also mentioned that the amount had to be repaid with 24 per cent interest if production for the movie did not finish by the end of the proposed time period.

According to The Hindu, a Division Bench of Justices P. Velmurugan and K. Govindarajan Thilakavadi refused to entertain the appeal preferred in May 2022 and upheld the order passed by Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy on April 5, 2022.

The single judge’s order was passed on a civil suit filed by R.S. Infotainment in 2013 accusing Menon of not having completed the untitled movie.

However, the defendants argued that the film, referred to as “production no. 6”, was initially given the tentative title Nithya, but was ultimately released in theatres on December 14, 2012, as Neethaane En Ponvasantham.

With the film’s release, they claimed their obligations to R.S. Infotainment had been fulfilled. Menon also stepped into the witness box, where he was questioned.

After evaluating the oral testimonies of Kumar and Menon, along with the documentary evidence on record, Justice Ramamoorthy concluded that Neethaane En Ponvasantham had been produced under a separate Rs 13.27 crore agreement dated July 6, 2011, between R.S. Infotainment, Photon Factory, and Mr. Menon, and was unrelated to the 2008 agreement concerning “production no. 6.”

The report mentions that the judge also held that there was nothing on record to establish that Rs 4.25 crore given by R.S. Infotainment for “production no. 6” was used for producing Neethane En Ponvasantham.

Thus, Menon and his partnership firm were asked to repay Rs 4.25 crore along with interest at the rate of 12% per annum from 2010 besides paying costs of Rs 12 lakh (including Rs 9.57 lakh towards court fees and Rs 2.5 lakh towards lawyer’s fees).