STR served with a Red Card? - A Detailed Report 

At last week's Annadurai audio launch, producer Gnanavel Raja, who is also the General Secretary of the Producers Council, came down heavily on STR for his non-cooperation in the production of AAA, produced by Michael Rayappan. Earlier in the year, the film had released as Part 1 (with the footage that was shot and edited) and bombed. Gnanavel didn't mention the star's name but it was quite obvious to all who had gathered that he was talking about STR. He had alleged that STR didn't come to the shoots on time, worked just a few hours each day and finished just a little part of the film and asked the team to go ahead and release the film. This had apparently caused a lot of loss and turmoil to the producer.

Director Ameer meanwhile spoke to a media channel regarding this and said that there was no need for Gnanavel Raja to publicly shame STR at an event which had no relation to the star and that they could have sorted this out behind closed doors. Ameer also alleged that since STR was against the current regime during the recent Producers Council elections, the likes of Vishal and Gnanavel are ganging up against him. He also added that they are making all possible efforts to get STR expelled from the Mani Ratnam film.

Following this, it is heard that about 4 complaints have been registered against STR at the Producers Council and that he has been issued a notice to explain his side of things. If one may recall, directors Gautham Menon and Pandiraj had similar accusations against STR during AYM and Idhu Namma Aalu respectively ( details here ). It is also heard that STR has been served a Red card and if things don't go smoothly, he may not be able to act in his immediate next with Mani Ratnam.

A source close to STR says that he had been paid just a portion of his promised salary for AAA and that he shouldn't have committed to this film without doing a proper background check of the producer and his finance credentials. "There are other actors too, whose films are stuck in the cans waiting to release and facing production issues due to their non-cooperation. But since it's STR, this council is deliberately maligning his image with such public speeches. They should have talked to him to hear out his issues too. He will definitely face all these issues and come out stronger. This roadblock in STR's journey in Tamil cinema will be crossed soon!"