Tamil actor Vijay’s upcoming movie Mersal, which was all set to hit the screens this Diwali, has hit a roadblock as the Madras High Court on Friday issued an interim stay against the production company Sri Thenandal Films from using the title—‘Mersal’—for the film’s publicity in any form, till October 3.
The Madras High Court issued the stay following a petition filed by producer A. Rajendran of AR Film Factory, saying he had already registered a title ‘Mersal Aayitten’ in 2015. He claimed in his petition that he had spent a lot of money for the film project and the shooting has already begun.
Stating that he complained twice to the producers council in June and August, Rajendran said he was forced to approach the court as the council failed to take any action. Rajendran had, however, purchased the title from Mohammad Sadiq of Green Apple pictures in 2014 and had registered it in 2015.
Hearing the petition, Judge Anitha Sumanth issued an interim stay on using the film’s title for any type of promotion, distribution or release and instructed Sri Thenandal Films to respond by October 3. The court’s stay had upset the makers of Mersal, as the film is all set to hit theatres on October 18. In fact, the teaser released on Thursday, has over 700 million hits already.
Mersal, one of the most anticipated Kollywood releases of the year, seem to be a regular Vijay affair with plenty of punch dialogues and action. However, the 75 second teaser of the film doesn’t reveal much and all the three female stars—Samantha, Kajal Agarwal and Nithya Menen—do not figure in the teaser. Produced at a whopping budget of Rs.100 crore, this is the most expensive film in Vijay’s two decade old film career.
