The Bombay High Court has reinstated film producer Sunil Darshan’s appeal against the actor Sunny Deol A decade long legal battle over their shelved film ‘Good Morning India’.The court on Friday reinstated the producer’s appeal challenging the 2015 single judge verdict, which imposed a cost of Rs 15,000 on the filmmaker. According to Live and Law, the 2015 order dismissed the arbitration petition filed by both Darshan and actor Sunny Deol, in which each had raised claims against the other, over their dispute over the shelved film.
Sunil Darshan has taken legal action over Sunny Deol’s exit
Darshan’s appeal was reportedly dismissed after he failed to appear during multiple hearings. However, the producer later filed an interim application for reinstatement of the appeal, which the court has now allowed.According to Hindustan Times, the dispute dates back to 2008, when Deol agreed to star in ‘Good Morning India’ and to be allotted 40 shooting days for the project. However, according to Darshan, the actor initially rejected the script, later approved a revised version, but later failed to cooperate with the production before walking out of the film.The producer claimed that he had taken a loan of Rs 3 crore to finance the project, for which he sought compensation of Rs 20 crore. He alleged that Deol had suffered ‘huge financial loss’ due to failure to honor the agreement.
CJI rejected Sunil Darshan’s demand of Rs 20 crore
The matter went to arbitration before a former Chief Justice of India, who in June 2011 rejected Darshan’s claim of Rs 20 crore and ordered Deol to pay Rs 12 lakh.Both parties challenged the ruling, with Darshan arguing that although the arbitrator found Deol in breach of contract, his claim for damages was wrongly rejected. Deol, on the other hand, challenged the direction requiring him to pay Rs 12 lakh.
A single bench judge dismissed the petition
In April 2015, a single judge bench dismissed both the petitions and upheld the arbitral award. The court also held that the arbitrator was justified in ordering Deol to pay Rs 12 lakh, noting that the actor had breached the contract.Both parties approached the Bombay High Court challenging the 2015 order.
‘Don 3’ Controversy
The update comes after the controversy over Ranveer Singh walking out of Farhan Akhtar’s ‘Don 3’. The filmmaker hit the headlines after claiming that his production house had already invested around Rs 45 crore in pre-production costs (including advance hotel/travel booking and location scouting) and sought compensation.
