Ahead of Kabali release, Lingaa makers demand stay on Rajinikanth's movie

Chennai: The Madras High Court today issued notice to superstar Rajnikanth on a petition seeking to restrain release of his upcoming film 'Kabali' until the actor paid Rs 89 lakh, promised as compensation, to distributor of his previous outing 'Lingaa', which was released in 2014.

Justice M M Sundresh before whom the petition by Sukra Films, a film distribution firm came up, issued notice to Tamil Film Producers Council, Rajnikanth and other respondents and adjourned the matter for tomorrow.

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Petitioner R Mahaprabhu of Sukra films submitted that Rajni-starrer 'Lingaa' had bombed at the box office despite assurances given by its producer Rockline Venkatesh, the Director and Rajnikanth.

He also claimed that the company had a financial loss of Rs 7.45 crore in Coimbatore distribution circle alone. He submitted that Rajnikanth and Venkatesh had agreed to compensate the overall loss of the distributors and theatres in Tamil Nadu and as part of the deal, Rs 2.59 crore was allotted to the Coimbatore region.

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Of this amount, Rs 1.70 crore was paid to Coimbatore, Erode, Nilgiri, Tiruppur (CENT) Theatre Owners Association. The balance of Rs 89 lakh was yet to be settled, he alleged.

He also alleged that the Tamil Nadu Producer's Council had failed to settle the issue. The petitioner sought a direction from the court to restrain release 'Kabali' till the amount was settled.