Sudha Kongara moves Madras High Court to prevent release of ‘Idhayam Murali’ over ‘Parasakthi’ movie payment dispute

Film director Sudha Kongara has moved the Madras High Court to restrain the release of actor Atharvaa-starrer Idhayam Murali on July 10, 2026 since the movie’s director Akash Baskaran who was also the producer of Siva Karthikeyan-starrer Parasakthi had reportedly not paid her dues to the tune of ₹8.39 crore.

Justice K. Kumaresh Babu, on Tuesday (June 30), heard preliminary submissions advanced by advocates Nithyaesh Natraj and Vaibhav R. Venkatesh for Ms. Kongara and her celebrity management company Undertow Professional Services Private Limited since they had approached the court jointly.

The judge also heard the preliminary arguments of senior counsel P.H. Arvindh Pandian for Mr. Baskaran’s production firm Dawn Pictures Private Limited, previously known as Akra Entertainment Private Limited, and granted time till July 8 for the respondent to file its written submissions.

In his affidavit, Ms. Kongara’s husband Kongara Nagarjuna Siva Prasad, who was also the director of Undertow Professional Services, said, his wife is a distinguished and celebrated film director and screenplay writer of international repute and she has made many critically-acclaimed films.

Initial agreement

On June 30, 2021, Ms. Kongara had entered into a director’s agreement with actor Suriya’s 2D Entertainment Private Limited for making a film titled Purananooru. However, the agreement was terminated by mutual consent after a few years but the rights of the script continued to vest with 2D Entertainment.

Dawn Pictures had acquired the rights and entered into fresh director’s agreement with Ms. Kongara on July 2, 2024. Since the director had appointed Undertow Professional Services as the facilitator, Mr. Siva Prasad too had signed the tripartite agreement under which parties agreed to several terms.

Renumeration

As per the agreement, Dawn Pictures had to pay a total remuneration of ₹15 crore, in different tranches, to the facilitator for the services rendered by the director. Initially, ₹3 crore had to be paid upon signing of the agreement followed by ₹1.5 crore on commencement of shooting, ₹3 crore on 50% completion of shooting and so on.

Claiming that the director had strictly adhered to the timelines by commencing the shooting in August 2024 and the principal photography in January 2025, Mr. Siva Prasad said, the dubbing was completed in November 2025 and the first copy was delivered in December 2025. The movie renamed as Parasakthi also got released on January 9, 2026 as per schedule.

However, he complained the production house did not make some of the payments on time and defaulted on a few others. It was also brought to the notice of the court that the director was entitled to a 15% of the share of profits from the exploitation of Parasakthi as per the bonus clause of the agreement.

Intending to initiate arbitration proceedings for recovering the dues, the applicants said, Dawn Pictures had no identifiable tangible assets such as immovable properties, plants or machineries that could be taken as security until the conclusion of the proceedings.

To recover dues

The paid-up share capital of Dawn Pictures was also only ₹3.10 crore as against the present claim of ₹8.39 crore. Therefore, there was no other way but to deal with the production firm’s next project Idhayam Murali to secure the dues to the applicants pending arbitration proceedings, the court was informed.