Director UR Jameel has moved the Madras high court to block the plan of the producers of his film Maha to release it on an OTT platform.
Maha stars Hansika Motwani and also happens to be her 50th film. According to news reports, nine days of shooting are still remaining on Maha, but the producers are already considering releasing the film online. Jameel has sought the court's intervention to prevent this.
A report in The Times of India newspaper said that in spite of the pending shoot, the film’s producers had started the post-production work, including re-recording, dubbing and editing, without Jameel’s involvement.
“Jameel has filed a complaint against producer Mathiyalagan, assistant director Vijay and editor John Abraham for taking part in post-production activities without him," a source from the film's unit was quoted as saying. "The court has asked them to respond on 19 May for the hearing."
According to the source, Jameel learnt about the OTT release plan through social media posts. The assistant director has worked for only 10 days on the film. Jameel then informed the OTT platform concerned that the film is incomplete and the platform replied that it would not encourage such unfinished projects.
According to the report, the nine days' shooting that remains to be completed includes some important portions of the film. Maha also features Simbu in a cameo.
The project has been in the making for a while now. The makers have so far teased audiences with multiple posters of Hansika donning different avatars — from holding a gun in a bathtub filled with what appears to be blood to smoking up against the backdrop of Banaras.
Recently, the makers revealed that the film also features actor Srikanth in a pivotal role.