The Madras High Court will on October 17 hear a plea for a special 4 am telecast of Vijay starrer ‘Leo’

Seven Screen Studios, the producer of actor Vijay’s ‘Leo’, has approached the Madras High Court seeking directions to the Tamil Nadu government to allow a special screening of the film at 4 am. on its October 19th release day. he also insisted that five shows of the film be allowed from 7 am onwards between October 19 and 24.

Justice Anita Sumanth on Monday adjourned the hearing of the writ petition to Tuesday, October 17, 2023, as Advocate General R. Shunmugasundaram sought time to verify whether a PIL filed in the Madurai Bench, regarding the regulation of films, had been shifted to the main seat of the High Court in Chennai.

Justice Sumanth said that if the PIL documents had already reached Chennai, then the present writ petition could be tagged with it and taken up before a division bench. Otherwise, he would take a summons on the writ petition filed by Seven Screen Studios, the judge said and asked the AG to take directions by Tuesday morning.

In his affidavit, K. Ramachandran, authorized signatory of Seven Screen Studios, said such was the fan interest of actor Vijay that the Tamil trailer of the film alone had reached 51 million views in 10 days on YouTube. Moreover, the entire film crew had created a lot of expectations from the fans all over the world.

Claiming that Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan’s latest films ‘Pathan’ and ‘Jawan’ opened with six to seven shows in Mumbai and six shows in Delhi, the petitioner said, the criterion for a film’s success depends on collections which makes opening day and therefore it was important to have special performances.

Moreover, since the film was to be released worldwide at 4 A.M. IST on October 19, it would be fair to release it in Tamil Nadu as well, the petitioner said and insisted the Tamil Nadu government to allow a special broadcast at 4 am. at least on opening day.

Senior counsel Srinath Sridevan, representing the petitioner, told the judge that generally, the state government allows only four shows a day in a cinema between 9 A.M. October 19 and 24, but had restricted the hours between 9 A.M. and 1.30 a.m.

Mr. Sridevan said, it would be impossible to play a 2 hour 43 minute film with a mandatory 20 minute interval and a 30 minute break between two shows (to clean the cinema halls), within 16 hours and 30 minutes. Taking into account the time required for the public to enter and exit, he said, it will take 18 hours and 45 minutes.

Therefore, he insisted on a directive to the state government to allow the five broadcasts from 7 am. itself between October 19 and 24 instead of insisting that the first show should start only at 9 a.m.