Prithviraj Sukumaran seeks Rs 10 crore in damages, court orders media portal to halt defamatory videos of actor

After Malayalam superstar Prithviraj Sukumaran had filed a civil defamation suit against Malayalam online portal Marunadan Malayali in May, Ernakulam additional sub judge had passed an injunction against the media channel to prohibit it from publishing defamatory content on the actor.

The online portal had published videos, claiming that the Ayyappanum Koshiyum actor had evaded taxes and alleged that he paid Rs 25 crore as fine to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) along with his production partner Listin Stephen, who owns Magic Frames. It also alleged that the actor had received the money abroad, for producing “propaganda movies”.

While Prithviraj took to his social media page immediately to say that the report is “false”, "defamatory” and “malicious”, he also said that he will be taking legal action and filing “civil and criminal defamation charges” against the portal.

Also read: Prithviraj Sukumaran on making propaganda films, paying Rs 25 Cr fine to ED: ‘Devoid of any truth, defamatory’ 

The actor’s plea stated that by falsely characterizing the actor as a tax evader and supporting propaganda movies, it has “lowered his stature”, goodwill and reputation in front of the audience. The injunction has asked the channel from publishing any defamatory content against the actor that results in the violation of his right to privacy and tarnish his reputation. This was after Prithviraj had approached the court claiming damages of Rs 10 crore for the defamatory videos published by the platform.

Prithviraj’s suit also claimed that the statements were made with an ulterior motive of attracting viewership, with its publishers being fully aware that they were false.

Meanwhile, Prithviraj is currently shooting for the final leg of Vilayath Buddha, which is based on GR Indugopan’s novel and is helmed by Jayan Nambiar, who had worked as an associate director in Lucifer as well as Ayyappanum Koshiyum. The actor is next set to begin the pre-production of Lucifer franchise’s second instalment titled L2: Empuraan, which has Mohanlal in the lead. The movie is touted to be made on a budget of Rs 150 crore and also has Hombale Films onboard as co-producers, as per reports. The makers are yet to officially announce the budget or the list of producers for the big budget film that will be shot in six countries.