A still from the trailer of Karthi-starrer Vaa Vaathiyar. Photo Credit: X@StudioGreen2
Popular film production house Studio Green Films has rushed to the Madras High Court to get its movie Vaa Vaathiyar, starring Karthi, released as soon as possible by modifying a prohibitory order passed by the court last month preventing the release of the movie.
The modification application has been listed for hearing before a Division Bench of Justices S.M. Subramaniam and C. Kumarappan on Friday (January 9, 2026). The production house has urged the court to relax the order which requires it to pay ₹21.78 crore before releasing the movie.
Vaa Vaathiyar was originally slated for release on December 12, 2025. However, it could not be released since the Official Assignee of the High Court filed an execution petition seeking a direction to K.E. Gnanavel Raja of the production house to settle dues to the tune of ₹21.78 crore.
It was brought to the notice of the court that Mr. Gnanavel Raja had entered into an agreement with businessman Arjunlal Sunderdas (since dead) in 2011 for co-producing a movie by investing ₹40 crore each. As per the agreement reached between them, Sunderdas had invested ₹12.85 crore in the movie.
However, after parting with such a huge amount, the businessman backed off from the project and decided not to get involved in the production anymore. Subsequently, he was declared as an insolvent and the Official Assignee was given the responsibility of ascertaining his assets and liabilities.
The Official Assignee found that Mr. Gnanavel Raja had to repay ₹10.35 crore to the insolvent, and therefore, filed an application before the High Court in 2016 seeking a direction to him to repay the amount with 18% interest from 2013. The Division Bench allowed the application in 2019.
Since then, the Official Assignee had been filing a series of petitions in the High Court before every release of the film produced by Mr. Gnanavel Raja and had been receiving part payments. The last of such petition was filed in December last year before the release of Vaa Vaathiyar.
After taking note that the liability of Mr. Gnanavel Raja had increased to ₹21.78 crore, including interest, over the years, the Division Bench had prohibited the release of the movie until the decree amount was settled fully.
Published – January 09, 2026 09:25 am IST
