22/01/2014
As SSMusic earlier reported, Gautham Menon was under legal tussle when a cheating case was filed against the director and his associates by producer Jayaraman, who alleged that Gautham had failed to pay his share of Rs 1 crore after striking a deal for Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa's Hindi remake, Ekk Deewana Tha (EDT).
Gautham Menon however addressed the issue to the Times of India. Here is the complete excerpts from the interview "I'm looking at it as the murky side of Tamil cinema. My partners (Reshma Ghatala and Venkat Somasundaram) and I have been fighting this for a year now. The main driving force behind their actions is the fact that I started a company with these two, got it listed, and didn't get into a partnership with Jayaraman (and his partner Elred Kumar).It was timed exactly when the Suriya film was supposed to start. I was producing that film, and the case was the first sign of a threat.
Talking about Jayaraman and Eldred, he says, "They came into my life during the making of Vaaranam Aayiram and I made them producers with Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa. We did Nadunisi Naaigal and Veppam together, and then started Ek Deewane Tha. Halfway through the movie, Fox Star Studios, who were partnering with us, asked us to transfer the rights to them. The rights were with Jayaraman and Elred but they started saying that they will not transfer it unless I do another film for them. That was coercion but that was how Neethane En Ponvasantham happened. I was shooting a Telugu film (with Ram) called Yeto Vellipoyindhi Manasu. When they heard that I'm moving on and doing a film with an outside producer, they forced me saying that 'If you want to continue with EDT, you have to sign another film with us'. Because we were halfway through the film, I agreed."
He says that the same case is being foisted on him every time he begins a new project. "The first time the case was filed, I had just started Suriya's film. Then, they filed when I announced my films with Simbu and Ajith. Now, they have brought this up again because I was going to have my script discussions with Ajith this week."
"On Monday, we presented to the court that there is a suppression of facts here and proved that the case was earlier dismissed at the magistrate court and at the CCB too," Gautham says.
Harris Jayaraj who had parted ways from Gautham Vasudev Menon after Varanam Aayiram is however helping the director to get out of the legal trouble and the threat from RS Infotainment. GVM said "good people" in the industry like Harris Jayaraj and Sarath Kumar have stepped in to find a solution.
