Chennai: Barely 24 hours prior to release of superstar Rajinikanth starrer ‘Kabali’, the Madras high court dismissed a plea seeking to stop its release. Justice M.M. Sundresh before whom a petition by R. Maha Prabhu, partner of Sukra Films, Koyambedu, came up for hearing on Thursday, dismissed the petition.

The petitioner submitted the company released a box office flop film, ‘Lingaa’, starring Rajinikanth and others in 2014. The company faced severe loss. Rajinikanth and Rockline Venkatesh, producer of ‘Lingaa’, accepted to compensate Rs 12.50 crore for the distributors and theatres owners in Tamil Nadu. “An amount of Rs 2.59 crores was allotted for Coimbatore region. Of this, Rs 1.70 crore was paid to Coimbatore, Erode, Nilgiris, Tirupur Theatre Owners Association. The balance of Rs 89 lakh is yet be settled to the company.

As president of Tamil Film Producers Council, Kalaipuli. S. Thanu, who is producer of ‘Kabali’, has responsibility to ensure that Rs 89 lakh is paid to the company. Hence he sought a direction to Thanu to settle the amount before releasing ‘Kabali’. He also sought an interim injunction to stop the release of ‘Kabali’.