Gautham Vasudev Menon Must Repay ₹4.25 Crore: Here’s Why Madras High Court Upheld 2022 Order
Director Gautham Vasudev Menon has been directed by the Madras High Court to repay ₹4.25 crore to producer Elred Kumar on Monday, after the court upheld a previous 2022 order in the long-standing dispute over an unmade film project.
The case traces back to 2008, when Elred Kumar, head of RS Infotainment, approached Menon to direct a film featuring Silambarasan TR in the lead.
The project, tentatively titled Production No 6, was planned as a major collaboration. As part of the agreement, Menon received an advance of ₹4.25 crore from the production house.
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However, the film never went on floors and remained indefinitely shelved.
With no progress on the project and no refund of the advance, the producer initiated legal proceedings seeking recovery of the amount. After years of legal battle, a single judge of the High Court in 2022 ruled in favour of Elred Kumar, directing Menon to repay the full sum.
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Challenging this decision, Menon filed an appeal, hoping for relief from the repayment order. But in its latest judgment delivered on March 23, 2026, a division bench comprising Justices P Velmurugan and K Govindarajan Thilakavathi dismissed the appeal and upheld the earlier ruling.
The court observed that there were no valid grounds to interfere with the 2022 judgment, effectively reinforcing the director’s obligation to return the money.
