Four filmmakers asked to pay up Rs 20 cr dues to financier IDBI Bank

Four well-known Sandalwood filmmakers have been declared defaulters by IDBI Bank, which was treading new ground by becoming the only bank to give loans to Kannada filmmakers.
The bank has cautioned the public to refrain from dealing with filmmakers SV Rajendra Singh Babu, Ashwini Ramprasad, Sunil Kumar Desai, and A Mohan. Babu's son Aaditya, who was a guarantor, has also been named in the notice.This is the first step in the bank's legal action to recover Rs 20 crore-plus in dues from the four.
The next steps include attaching properties belonging to the defaulters, obtaining a decree from the Debts Recovery Tribunal (DRT), and finally seeking civil prison sentences.The filmmakers, though, have the option of trying for a onetime-settlement (OTS). IDBI Bank stopped financing Kannada films in 2010 after many of these filmmakers defaulted on their payments.
Babu, in fact, was in the bank's committee which ap f proved loans for filmmakers. b Sources said he had defaulted s on payments for three of his p films -Bhimoo's Bang Bang Kids starring Upendra and Ramya; Rakthaksha, starring his s son Auditya; and multistarrerThipparalliTaralegalu. Sunil Kumar Desai is said to have defaulted on Sarigama, and AshwiniRamprasad on Jotegaara.
Of the movies which have defaulted, only Jotegaara has been released by the producer so far. IDBI Bank released ThipparalliTaralegalu on its own two years ago. But it found that Babu had sold the rights for some areas to another producer without its knowledge. None of the other movies are even ready for release.
ENTIRE INDUSTRY HIT
According to IDBI Bank, the amounts due from the producers are Rs 8,17,51,133 from Rajendra Singh Babu, Rs 2,32,88,193 from AshwiniRamprasad, Rs 4,80,70,865 from Sunil Kumar Desai, and Rs 4,78,15,296 from A Mohan.Following this notification, the next step in the recovery process is to obtain a decree from DRT.
If the bank is unable to recover the money or find any property to attach, it may try to send them to a 'civil prison', but will have to incur the cost of maintaining them in prison.
An advocate who handled a similar case for another Sandalwood producer, said, “My client owed the bank Rs 9 crore. Finally it was settled for Rs 3.5 crore. This was a one-time-settlement. This is the best way forward for filmmakers.“ A producer said, “These defaulters have spoiled the name of the industry. Filmmakers like RocklineVenkatesh and S Narayan never defaulted on payments, but now even they are not getting loans.
The loans provided by IDBI Bank were affordable. Private financiers charge a minimum of Rs 40 lakh interest for a Rs 3 crore loan of three-month tenor. On the other hand, IDBI Bank charged only Rs 8 lakh for the same amount with six-month tenor.“
There are producers who have sold off their properties to clear their bank loans and maintain a clean slate. “Om Saiprakash sold four sites and a house to clear IDBI Bank loans before he released DevaruKottaTangi. Ravichandran sold his iconic office in Gandhinagar to repay his bank loan,“ a popular producer said.