How Ajith was arm-twisted to return advance by Bala, Naan Kadavul makers? A detailed story [Throwback]

Ajith and Bala's infamous Naan Kadavul issue is in the news again after producer PL Thenappan opened up on the incident in an interview recently. He only clarified that the director did not get physical with the actor, but did not reveal what exactly happened on the day when the makers and the actor had the meeting in Hotel Palmgrove in the second week of June in 2006.

Here is what Happened
Kumudham and Nakkeeran magazines had reported about the incident although both the sides did not speak about the controversy. As per the publications, it was rumoured that Bala had spent over Rs 4 crore on the story discussions and had got around Rs 13 crore from the makers for the project. The National Award winning filmmaker had brought Ajith Kumar in by paying Rs 1.5 crore as advance.

At some point, Bala demanded Rs 4 crore further from producer PL Thenappan, but he refused to pay the amount considering that the movie had not made any progress. So, here is when the real issue started as they decided to drop Ajith and replace an actor whose remuneration would be around Rs 50 lakh, the reports had claimed.

Ajith Had Lost Interest
Since the shooting of Naan Kadavul was not started after announcing it in 2004, Ajith too had lost interest in the project and wanted to come out of the film. So, the actor was called for a meeting which would have the participation of the producer, director and financiers Anbu and Arulpathi at the said hotel mentioned above.

Ajith and others gathered at the hotel and the everything was under control for the first 30 minutes. However, the mood changed as Bala and others started hurling abuses at the actor, who has always been known or helping the producers in need.

The actor was pressurised to return the amount with interest through arm-twisting tactics, reports claimed. In the end, Ajith walked out of the project and Arya was roped in. Rest is history.

Note: IBT India cannot independently verify the reports about this story.