Madurai bench of Madras High Court Bench while hearing a writ appeal filed by an aspiring filmmaker, K.R. Ravi Rathinam permitted the release of the Rajinikanth starrer Tamil movie Lingaa on a condition that, the producer deposit Rs.5 crore, besides providing a bank guarantee for an equal sum to the credit of the Registrar (Administration) of the Bench. The Division Bench of Justices V. Dhanapalan and V.M. Velumani ordered that the movie be released by 1 a.m. Friday, if the producer could deposit Rs.3 crore in the bank account of the Registrar through online transfer by Thursday evening. The rest of the money as well as the bank guarantee could be handed over by Monday.
In this case, appellant, alleged theft of his script for making the movie Lingaa. Though, the appellant could not invoke the writ jurisdiction of the High Court to redress his grievance, the judges gave him four weeks to initiate civil as well as criminal proceedings before the lower courts. However, “in the interest of justice and taking into consideration the principles of equity, justice and good conscience,” the Bench directed the film producer to deposit Rs. 10 crore as a pre-condition for permitting the release of the movie. Assuming that the film was scheduled for release on Friday afternoon, the judges initially ordered him to deposit the entire sum at least an hour before the release.