Madras High Court clears the decks for release of Idhayam Murali
The Madras High Court on Friday (July 10, 2026) cleared the decks for the theaterical release of Atharvaa-starrer Idhayam Murali by refusing to grant an
The Madras High Court on Friday (July 10, 2026) cleared the decks for the theaterical release of Atharvaa-starrer Idhayam Murali by refusing to grant an interim injunction at the behest of Sudha Kongara who had directed Dawn Pictures’ previous production Parasakthi, starring Siva Karthikeyan. Justice K. Kumaresh Babu refused to grant an interim injunction restraining Dawn Pictures Private Limited from releasing the movie in theatres on July 10, 2026, and said Ms. Kongara and Dawn Pictures would have to resolve the monetary dispute between them before an arbitral tribunal. What is the case about? Kongara and her celebrity management company Undertow Professional Services Private Limited had approached the court jointly contending that Dawn Pictures had agreed to pay her a remuneration of ₹15 crore for writing and directing Parasakthi but it had unpaid dues of ₹8.39 crore.
Claiming that she had adhered to the timelines scrupulously, the applicant said, the shooting of Parasakthi began in August 2024 and the principal photography commenced in January 2025. After the completion of dubbing in November 2025, the movie was released as scheduled on January 9, 2026. However, Dawn Pictures had defaulted on the payments that were due to her as per the clauses of the agreement, she complained, and urged the court to restrain the release of its next movie Idhayam Murali, directed by Akash Baskaran, as she had no other way to recover her dues. On the other hand, Dawn Pictures told the court that Ms. Kongara had received ₹4.12 crore from 2D Entertainment Private Limited for having written the script, screenplay, and dialogues for the movie Parasakthi but suppressed the fact before the court.
It said Ms. Kongara entered into a director’s agreement with it on July 2, 2024, for a remuneration of ₹15 crore and on December 18, 2024, she terminated a similar 2021 agreement entered with 2D Entertainment on receipt of ₹4.12 crore for the same movie. Further, stating that it had acquired intellectual property rights of the movie from 2D Entertainment on payment of ₹5.8 crore and also paid ₹8.5 crore (excluding GST)
to Ms. Kongara so far, Dawn Pictures said, the payments were made without any knowledge about the clauses of the termination agreement. Asserting that the financial consequences arising out of the interconnected transactions necessarily require adjustment and accounting before an arbitral tribunal, since there were counter claims too, Dawn Pictures contended that Ms. Kongara could not, in the meantime, seek any interim relief such as an injunction against the release of Idhayam Murali.
The BriefWire