Madras High Court Paves Way For Release Of Film 'Akhanda 2' After Parties Agree To Settle Dispute

The Madras High Court has paved the way for release of Nandamuri Balakrishna starrer Akhanda 2, after its producers agreed to settle pending payments towards Eros International. Justice Anand Venkatesh vacated an earlier interim order granted by a division bench of Justice SM Subramaniam and Justice C Kumarappan restraining the release of the movie till the petition filed by Eros against the producers of the movie was disposed of. The film is set to release tomorrow (December 12). The judge decided to vacate the interim stay after recording the joint memo filed by the parties and noting that the producers had transferred an amount of Rs. 5 Crore as part payment. “The Division Bench while allowing the appeals, passed an order of interim injunction which will continue till the main applications are taken up for final hearing. In view of the same, this interim order is continuing. As per Clause 7 of the above Agreement, immediately after the part settlement amount of Rs.5 Crores is paid to the applicant, the applicant has agreed to withdraw all these applications. It is brought to the notice of this Court that the part settlement amount of Rs.5 Crores has been transferred to the bank account of the applicant through RTGS. In the light of this development, the interim order of injunction is vacated and the 2nd respondent will be permitted to release the Movie,” the court said. There was a dispute between Eros International Media Ltd and 14 Reels Entertainment private Ltd, in which an arbitral award was passed ordering 14 reels to pay Rs. 11,22,95,217 along with an interest of 14%. As per the arbitral award there was also an injunction order restraining the production company from transferring, licensing, exploiting or deal with the film “Dookudu”. Though the arbitral award was challenged, the appeals failed and the arbitral award attained finality. Eros argued that in spite of the order, 14 reels did not take any steps towards payment and instead started functioning through a new company, “14 Reels Plus LLP”, which was run by immediate family members of the directors of 14 Reels Entertainment. Eros argued that 14 Reels was attempting to defeat the right in recovering the award amount by releasing movies through the second entity. Thus, Eros had filed an application under Section 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act seeking interim protection to stall the release of the upcoming movie “Akhanda 2” produced by 14 Reels. When the application first came up before the single judge, the judge noted that Eros had already filed an execution petition and thus proceedings under Section 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act would not be maintainable. The single judge noted that the relief sought in the present plea could be sought for in the execution petition and dismissed the plea. Thereafter, Eros filed an original side appeal, wherein the division bench remanded the matter back to the single judge and granted interim stay. When the matter was again taken up by the single judge, the parties informed that they had entered into a settlement agreement, as per which, 14 Reels agreed to pay Rs. 10 Crore as full and final settlement out of which Rs. 5 Crore would be paid by December 9, 2025 and the remaining amount would be paid within 9 months, which may be further extended for a period of 3 months. Noting that the part payment had been made, the court decided to dispose of the pleas. Counsel for Applicant: Mr. Akash Srinanda V for Ms.Vaibhav R Venkatesh Counsel for Respondent: Mr.Keerthikiran Murali, Mr.P.Giridharan, Mr.C.Prasanna Venkatesh Case Title: Eros International Media Limited v. 14 Reels Entertainment Private Limited and Others Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (Mad) 480 Case No: OA No. 997 of 2025 AND OA No. 998 OF 2025 & ARB APPLN Nos. 1374 & 1388 of 2025 Click Here To Read/Download The Judgment

Madras High Court Paves Way For Release Of Film 'Akhanda 2' After Parties Agree To Settle Dispute

Upasana Sajeev

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