Acclaimed filmmaker Sudha Kongara has approached the Madras High Court over unpaid remuneration of Rs. 8.39 crores for her work in connection with the tamil movie “Parasakthi”.

When the case came up for hearing before Justice K Kumaresh Babu on Tuesday (June 30), the court orally directed the respondent, Dawn Pictures (producer of the movie), to not release the movie on satellite till July 8.

Sudha has moved the court against Dawn Pictures seeking payment of Rs 8.39 crore along with an interest of 12% from February 8, 2026. The amount has been claimed as a measure for securing a claim amount till the passing of an arbitral award.

Sudha has also sought for an interim direction to restrain Dawn Pictures from releasing the Paraskathi movie through any OTT platforms, media service, satellite channel, digital/streaming platform, cable network, or any other media, electronic or otherwise till the disposal of the main plea.

Sudha has also sought for appointing a court receiver or commissioner to collect, receive and hold in escrow all revenue that it payable by Zee5 to Dawn Pictures, for obtaining the OTT rights of the movie. She has also sought for a direction to Zee5 to directly deposit the revenue with the court receiver, instead of paying it to Dawn Pictures.

A direction has also been sought to maintain and preserve all records of revenue generated from the movie through all sources and file such statement before the court along with all OTT/satellite/digital agreements (executed and pending) entered into or being negotiated by Dawn Pictures in connection with the movie.

Apart from this, Sudha has asked the court to restrain Dawn Pictures, it's agents and nominees from releasing the upcoming movie “Idhayam Murali” which is scheduled to release on July 10.

When the plea was heard on Tuesday, Sudha's counsel informed the court that a total of Rs. 17.60 crore (including GST) was to be paid to Sudha as consideration, of which only Rs. 9.31 was paid and the remaining Rs. 8.39 remained unpaid.

It was argued that though the film claimed to have collected more that Rs 100 crore, the producers had still not paid the remaining dues, stating financial difficulties. It was submitted that while her remuneration remained unpaid, the respondent production company was now proceeding to release “Idhayam Murali” movie. Sudha thus sought to restrain the release of the upcoming movie, pending payment.

The court directed the Production company to file it's response to Sudha's plea seeking to restrain the release of Idhayam Murali movie. The court also directed that Paraskathi movie should not be released on satellite till the next hearing of the case.

The court has adjourned the plea to July 8.

It may be noted that in January this year, the court had refused to halt the release of Parasakthi movie in a plea alleging that the script of the movie was stolen.

Counsel for Petitioner: Advocate Nityesh Natraj and Advocate Vaibhav Venkatesh

Case Title: Sudha Kongara and another v Dawn Pictures

Case No : Arb Appln 1279 of 2026