The Madras High Court has directed producer J Murali Manohar and his production house, MediaOne Global Entertainment Limited, to pay ₹2.52 crore within four weeks or face a six-month imprisonment sentence. The case pertaining to Soundarya Rajinikanth’s 2014 Rajinikanth and Deepika Padukone-starrer Kochadaiiyaan involves compensation to an advertising agency and a cheque bounce.
Madras HC directs Kochadaiiyaan producer to pay up or face jail term
Justice Sunder Mohan passed the orders in the Madras HC while partly allowing a criminal revision case filed by J Murali Manohar and his production house. It was filed against the conviction and sentence imposed on them by a metropolitan magistrate in 2021 and confirmed by a city civil court in 2023.
The HC has directed Manohar to pay ₹2.52 crore to the advertising agency, AdBureau Advertising Private Limited, within 4 weeks, or face 6 months' imprisonment. After hearing both sides and questioning inconsistencies, a judge ruled that the ad agency had lent only ₹10 crore and had been repaid ₹8.74 crore, leaving a balance of ₹1.26 crore. The sentence was modified to a fine of ₹2.52 crore, twice the amount he owed.
Why does Kochadaiiyaan producer still owe ₹2.52 crore years later
The Hindu reported that Abirchand Nahar of AdBureau Advertising Private Limited filed a complaint against Mohan, stating that his firm had entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with MediaOne Global Entertainment on April 25, 2014. They had loaned the production house ₹20 crore for the post-production of the photorealistic motion-capture movie. The production house had informed the financier that the sale of the Kochadaiiyaan lease rights would fetch at least ₹20 crore.
{{/usCountry}}The Hindu reported that Abirchand Nahar of AdBureau Advertising Private Limited filed a complaint against Mohan, stating that his firm had entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with MediaOne Global Entertainment on April 25, 2014. They had loaned the production house ₹20 crore for the post-production of the photorealistic motion-capture movie. The production house had informed the financier that the sale of the Kochadaiiyaan lease rights would fetch at least ₹20 crore.
{{/usCountry}}The ad agency stated in its complaint that it was promised 20% of the sale proceeds or a minimum guaranteed profit of ₹2.40 crore before selling the rights to any third party. Accordingly, the ad agency transferred ₹10 crore to the production house’s bank account on April 28, 2014. In December 2014, a cheque issued by the production was returned, leading to the complaint.
In December 2021, a magistrate's court in Egmore convicted Mohan and sentenced him to six months of imprisonment. He was also directed to pay ₹7.70 crore or face an additional six months of imprisonment. In August 2023, a city civil court confirmed the conviction, but the producer claimed to have repaid ₹12.75 crore. He also accused the ad agency of using the cheque given as a guarantee at a later date.
Case against Latha Rajinikanth
The ad agency had also filed a cheating case against Rajinikanth’s wife, Latha, in 2016, and the Supreme Court issued a notice to her regarding the sale of the film's rights. In 2018, the SC issued a directive asking her to pay ₹6.20 crores.
After getting bail in a Bengaluru court in 2023, Latha told ANI, “For me, it's a case of humiliation and harassment and exploitation of a popular person. This is the price we pay for being celebrities. So there may not be a big case, but the news becomes very big. There is no fraudulence.”
A Bengaluru court on October 16, 2025, refused to discharge Latha in the criminal case, rejecting her plea to drop charges of cheating and forgery.
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