Madras HC Orders Kochadaiiyaan Producer to Pay Rs 2.52 Crore, Warns of Jail

Madras HC Orders Kochadaiiyaan Producer to Pay Rs 2.52 Crore or Face Six Months’ Jail

More than a decade after Kochadaiiyaan hit theatres, the Madras High Court has passed a decisive order in a long-pending financial dispute linked to the film’s production. The court has directed producer J Murali Manohar and his firm, MediaOne Global Entertainment Limited, to pay Rs 2.52 crore within four weeks, failing which Manohar will have to undergo six months’ imprisonment.

The order stems from a cheque bounce case and compensation owed to AdBureau Advertising Private Limited, which had funded part of the film’s post-production. Kochadaiiyaan, released in 2014, was directed by Soundarya Rajinikanth and starred Rajinikanth and Deepika Padukone.

Justice Sunder Mohan passed the ruling while partly allowing a criminal revision petition filed by Manohar and his production company. The plea had challenged the conviction and sentence imposed by a metropolitan magistrate in 2021, which was later upheld by a city civil court in 2023.

After reviewing records and hearing both sides, the High Court noted that AdBureau had advanced Rs 10 crore to the production house and had already recovered Rs 8.74 crore, leaving an outstanding amount of Rs 1.26 crore. The court modified the earlier sentence and imposed a fine of Rs 2.52 crore — double the unpaid amount — to be paid as compensation to the advertising agency. Non-payment within the stipulated period would trigger a six-month jail term.

Background of the Dispute

The dispute dates back to April 25, 2014, when AdBureau Advertising entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with MediaOne Global Entertainment to fund post-production work on the motion-capture film.

According to a complaint filed by Abirchand Nahar of AdBureau, the agreement was based on assurances that the sale of the film’s lease rights would fetch at least Rs 20 crore. The agency was promised 20 per cent of the proceeds or a minimum assured return of Rs 2.40 crore before the rights were sold to any third party.

Acting on this understanding, AdBureau transferred Rs 10 crore to the producer’s bank account on April 28, 2014. Trouble arose later that year when a cheque issued by the production house was dishonoured in December 2014, prompting the advertising firm to initiate legal proceedings.

In December 2021, a magistrate’s court in Egmore convicted Manohar and sentenced him to six months’ imprisonment, along with directing him to pay Rs 7.70 crore or face additional jail time. While a city civil court upheld the conviction in August 2023, Manohar argued that he had already repaid Rs 12.75 crore and claimed the cheque was issued merely as a guarantee and later misused.

Case Also Involves Latha Rajinikanth

The case has also drawn in Latha Rajinikanth, actor Rajinikanth’s wife. In 2016, AdBureau filed a separate cheating complaint against her, following which the Supreme Court issued a notice related to the sale of the film’s rights. In 2018, the apex court directed her to pay Rs 6.20 crore.

After securing bail from a Bengaluru court in 2023, Latha Rajinikanth 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. There is no fraudulence.”

Legal proceedings against her remain ongoing. On October 16, 2025, a Bengaluru court rejected her plea seeking discharge and refused to drop charges related to cheating and forgery.