TAMIL NADU

Financial default cases cast shadow over Rajini's political entry

rajinikanth [File] Rajnikanth

Years after it tanked in the box office, Kochadaiyaan, the animation movie, still seems to haunt Rajinikanth family. The supreme court had on Tuesday asked his wife Latha Rajinikanth to settle Ad bureau Advertising Private Limited with the remaining amount of Rs 8.5 crore with interest within three months. Latha had reportedly taken Rs 10 crore from the Ad bureau, towards distribution rights of Kochadaiyaan which was released in 2014.

The case and the Supreme court’s order on Tuesday has come down as a veiled barb that would irk the superstar's family at a time when he is busy with the idea of launching a political party.

Rajinikanth, one of the icons of Tamil cinema, has been looked at as a man who is clean and above corruption. In fact his statement saying the “system is not right” in April and that his would be “spiritual politics” or “honest politics” has made his fans believe that he will be clean politician.

According to sources close to Rajini, the registrations to his Rajini Mandram have been overflowing all these days since December 31, after he launched it. Sources said that there have been more than 30 lakh registrations in just a month. Also appointment of office bearers to the Mandram is being done meticulously with his supervision. The meetings with his fans from every district and their appointments are happening every day at his Raghavendra marriage hall in Kodambakkam in Chennai.

In this context Ad bureau going to the supreme court and the court ordering repayment of dues to Latha could dent his image as a clean to-be politician. It was in December 2014, Ad Bureau Advertising Pvt. Ltd, a private company which entered into distribution rights for Kochadaiyaan with Latha Rajinikanth and its producer Dr J. Murali Manohar had filed a complaint with the central crime branch of the Chennai city police. The complaint said that Latha and Murali Manohar had cheated the firm to the tune of Rs 10 crore after entering into an agreement with them to give the TN distribution rights of the movie.

According to the complaint, the Tamil Nadu lease rights of the film were sold to the agency by Murali Manohar, director of Mediaone Global Entertainment Ltd and guaranteed by Latha Rajinikanth. However, the producer of the film along with the guarantor then illegally sold the rights to Eros International. The complainant, Abirchand Nihar, of Ad bureau, in 2014, in his complaint alleged that the same company had purchased the distribution rights of Rajinikanth’s Linga, released after Kochadaiyaan. The complaint said that Latha was wilfully defrauding; The director of Kochadaiyaan, Soundarya Rajinikanth, too was pulled as she then became the CEO of Eros.

It may be recalled that there are two other cases that were filed recently in the Madras High Court with regard to rentals against Latha Rajinikanth – the Ashram school land case and the non payment of rent to Chennai city corporation for her office space in Alwarpet.