Distortionist film director Sudha Kongara has approached the Madras High Court seeking interim relief over the alleged non-payment of ₹8.39 crore due to her as remuneration for directing the Tamil film Parasakthi. The petition has been filed under Section 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act against Dawn Pictures, the production house behind the film, as reported in Bar and Bench.
Kongara has sought the Court’s intervention, contending that despite the release of Parasakthi and the raising of invoices, a substantial portion of the agreed remuneration remains unpaid.
She has also sought an interim injunction restraining the release of Dawn Pictures’ upcoming film Idhayam Murali, scheduled to hit theatres on July 10, until her outstanding dues are cleared.
The matter came up before Justice K. Kumaresh Babu, who directed that there shall be no satellite release of Parasakthi until July 8.
The Court also directed Dawn Pictures to file its counter affidavit by July 7 in response to Kongara’s plea seeking to restrain the theatrical release of Idhayam Murali.
Appearing on behalf of the director, her counsel submitted that under the agreement executed between the parties, Kongara was entitled to a total remuneration of ₹15 crore. With Goods and Services Tax (GST) payable separately, the total amount due came to ₹17.70 crore.
According to the submissions, Dawn Pictures has so far paid only ₹9.31 crore, leaving an outstanding balance of ₹8.39 crore.
Kongara’s counsel argued that the agreement clearly recorded that she had assigned the entire intellectual property rights relating to Parasakthi to the producers. Despite receiving the benefit of those rights and releasing the film, the production house had allegedly failed to pay the full contractual consideration.
The Court was also informed that while Dawn Pictures claimed financial inability to settle Kongara’s dues, it was simultaneously proceeding with the release of another film, Idhayam Murali.
Her counsel further submitted that the producers themselves had publicly declared Parasakthi a commercial success, claiming that it had earned ₹100 crore at the box office, yet had allegedly failed to honour their contractual payment obligations.
Explaining why the petition had been filed before the release of Idhayam Murali, Kongara’s counsel told the Court, “They should not come at that point of time and say that you are coming at the back end of the release. That is why I have come much in advance.”
It was clarified during the hearing that Parasakthi has already been released on an OTT platform and that Kongara was not seeking to restrain its digital release. Her request for interim relief is confined only to preventing the satellite television release of the film until the payment dispute is resolved.
The matter has been posted for further hearing on 8 July 2026.
Parasakthi was an anti-Hindi, pro-DMK propaganda film directed by Sudha Kongara and produced by Dawn Pictures, starring Sivakarthikeyan, Ravi Mohan, Atharvaa and Sreeleela. Released in January 2026, the film collapsed in just three days at the box office.
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