Justice V. Dhanapalan of Madras High Court on Thursday said that film director A.R. Murugadoss continues to be one of the most sought after directors in the film industry only because of an order passed by him and Justice M. Sathyanarayanan when the Hindi version of his film ‘Ghajini’ got caught in legal tangles in 2008.
The judge made the observation when Sanjay Ramaswami, counsel for actor Rajinikanth and film producer ‘Rockline’ Venkatesh, expressed difficulty in depositing Rs. 5 crore within a day for permitting the release of ‘Lingaa’ on Friday. Expressing surprise over such a submission, the judge said: "Five crore is nothing. You will earn that money by tomorrow evening itself."
He recalled how producers of the Aamir Khan-starrer Ghajini had agreed to deposit Rs. 3 crore as ordered by the court for permitting its release in December 2008.
"It is only because they deposited the money, the film went on to make business worth Rs. 300 crore. Today, Murugadoss is also being hailed as one of the best directors because of that order," the judge said.
After narrating the incident, the judge told Senior Counsel R. Muthukumarasamy, appearing on behalf of Mr. Ramaswami, "You are not taking tomorrow’s events into consideration. This money is nothing for cinema people."
