After Rajpal Yadav, now Dhanush faces legal trouble, demands compensation of ₹ 20 crores

After the Rs 10 crore check bounce case of famous Bollywood actor Rajpal Yadav, now Tamil cinema actor-filmmaker Dhanush is seen embroiled in a legal dispute. According to reports, production house Thenandal Films has sent him a legal notice demanding compensation of ₹20 crore. This controversy is related to the film project, which was announced in the year 2016 but has not been completed till date.

According to the notice, Dhanush had agreed to direct and act in a film titled Naan Rudram for Thenandal Films. However, the production house alleges that Dhanush later backed out of the project, despite assuring that he would do another film for the company instead. It is alleged that despite this no concrete progress was made.

The production house claims that the project has suffered a loss of around ₹20 crore so far. This includes advance payment and pre-production expenses. The notice said remuneration was also paid to the actors associated with the film, including Nagarjuna and SJ Suryah. Later this investment sank due to stalling of the project.

Thenandal Films also alleged that a major reason for the film’s stalling was Dhanush not submitting the complete script and giving priority to other professional commitments, which led to the long delay. The legal notice asks Dhanush to clarify within a week whether he will give the dates to complete the film before the end of 2025 as per his earlier assurance. If this does not happen, the production house has demanded a refund of the amount spent as well as additional damages of ₹1 crore and warned of further legal action.

This case comes after another legal dispute involving Dhanush last year. In 2024, he sent a legal notice to actress Nayanthara, alleging that behind-the-scenes footage from her film Naanum Rowdy Thanum was used without permission in Nayanthara’s Netflix documentary. In this case, Dhanush had demanded damages of ₹ 10 crore, after which the Madras High Court allowed him to initiate legal proceedings against Netflix, Nayanthara and filmmaker Vignesh Shivan.

Meanwhile, Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh is also said to be embroiled in a separate contractual dispute. According to reports, Excel Entertainment has demanded damages of around ₹40 crore citing losses incurred in pre-production following Ranveer Singh’s exit from the film Don 3. At the same time, Ranveer Singh’s team has challenged these claims and pointed towards the issues related to the preparation of the production house. Both these cases have once again exposed the ongoing tension in the film industry regarding contracts, timeliness and project commitments.

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