Gautham Vasudev Menon’s old film deal haunts him: HC orders massive refund with 12% interest

In a twist straight out of a film script, director Gautham Vasudev Menon has landed in serious legal trouble over a movie that never took off. Years after the deal was signed, the Madras High Court has now told the filmmaker and his company to return crores to a financier with interest.

This case goes all the way back to 2008, when Menon’s production house Photon Factory entered into an agreement with RS Infotainment, headed by S Elred Kumar.

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The plan was ambitious. RS Infotainment agreed to finance a total of Rs 13.5 crore for an untitled project, known at the time as Production No.6. Shooting was supposed to begin in December 2008 and wrap up by April 2009. Everything looked set on paper.

But reality turned out very different.

Money paid, movie missing

According to court records, the financier paid Rs 4.25 crore to Menon’s side, including an advance of Rs 2.5 crore. However, the project never went on floors.

Frustrated with lack of progress, RS Infotainment filed civil suit in 2013 claiming that despite receiving funds, filmmakers did not even begin production. Company sought to recover Rs 9.53 crore alleging financial loss and breach of agreement.

Filmmaker’s defence: “Funds were not fully paid”

Menon and his team argued that the fault was not entirely theirs. They claimed that the financier failed to pay the full agreed amount of Rs 13.5 crore.

According to their version, only Rs 4.25 crore was released, which was not enough to proceed with the film. Because of this shortfall, they said the project had to be shelved.

They also insisted that the money received was used for production-related expenses. They claimed that the shelved project was later revived and eventually released as film ‘Nee Thane En Pon Vasantham’.

Court not convinced

The court however did not buy these arguments.

A single judge bench led by Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy had already ruled in 2022 that Menon and his company must repay Rs 4.25 crore with 12% interest starting from May 11, 2010, until full repayment.

Menon and Photon Factory challenged this order. But on March 23, 2026, a Division Bench of Justices P Velmurugan and K Govindarajan Thilakavadi dismissed their appeal.

The judges made it clear that they found no issue with the earlier ruling and saw no reason to interfere.

“No proof the film even started”

The court pointed out that the filmmakers failed to show any solid evidence that the project had even begun.

The bench said there was no “tangible and valuable evidence” to prove that shooting ever started. It also rejected the bills and vouchers presented by the defence, saying they were not clearly linked to the agreed project.

Argument that later film ‘Nee Thane En Pon Vasantham’ fulfilled the original contract was also dismissed.

Court went step further suggesting that filmmakers may have deliberately shifted roles and used different entities to avoid fulfilling their original obligation and payments.

In its final conclusion, High Court held that Menon and his firm had clearly breached the contract. Reason was simple: they accepted funds but did not begin production as promised.

With the appeal now dismissed, earlier order stands. The filmmaker and his company must repay Rs 4.25 crore along with 12% interest. This gets calculated from 2010 until the amount is fully paid.