Pyramid Saimira Productions, represented by its director P.S. Swaminathan, has approached the Madras High Court to restrain the release of Kamal Haasan starrer Vishwaroopam 2. The production company claimed that the actor owed it ₹7.75 crore and the money could not be collected from him if the movie was allowed to be released.
According to an affidavit filed by the production house, it had entered into a memorandum of understanding with Rajkamal Films International, in which the actor is a partner, in 2008 for jointly producing a movie titled Marmayogi. Mr. Haasan had reportedly agreed to play the lead, besides writing the story, screenplay and dialogues. He also supposedly undertook to book leading actors such as Amitabh Bachchan, Hema Malini, Bipasha Basu and Priyanka Chopra for the Hindi version of the movie and to engage popular technicians. In pursuance of the MoU, Pyramid Saimira paid ₹6.9 crore towards production costs and ₹4 crore towards remuneration for Mr. Haasan. Accusing the actor of having diverted the money for Unnaipol Oruvan, the company filed a civil suit in 2011 for recovery of production costs. Then, it also sought for an interim relief restraining the release of Unnaipol Oruvan. However, the court allowed the movie to be released on furnishing of a bank guarantee for 50% of the suit claim. In 2016, it filed another civil suit for recovery of the remuneration paid to him with interest. In 2016, the amount due was ₹ 5.44 crore but now the amount had increased to ₹7.75 crore with interest. Now that the actor was all set to release his new movie Vishwaroopam 2, the production house had moved the High Court once again to restrain the actor from releasing the movie either directly or through garnishees.