Bankers are pushing for settlement of Kochadaiiyaan debts from the producers ahead of the film’s release.

Betting big on the movie’s export potential, Media One Global Entertainment Ltd, the producer, borrowed ₹20 crore from Exim Bank to fund the project. As the company is yet to repay the loan, Exim Bank is mounting pressure on the production house.

A senior official of the bank said it is likely to execute an agreement with Media One “to pay a part of the amount before the release and the rest through post-dated cheques to be paid soon after the release.”

A highly placed source in Oriental Bank of Commerce, another lender, disclosed that though the bank has “some exposure” to the project, as it is against collateral, it is fully secure. The Rajinikanth-starrer is facing a financial crunch as distributors have not been keen on the product. Media One representatives could not be reached for comment.

A source in the Chennai film distribution circle said that seven film distributors in Chennai have agreed to release the film “only on behalf of Media One” and booked 32 screens in the city without making any financial commitment.

In the rest of TN, Media One is releasing the film on its own in nearly 300 screens, a far cry from the more than 1,000 screens in which Rajinikanth’s latest films such as Sivaji and Enthiran were released.

If the movie runs for a week to packed houses in the city it will make ₹2.5 crore, and about ₹22-25 crore across TN. The production cost of the film was pegged at ₹100 crore. But, it shot up to over ₹125 crore, as post-production involved domestic and foreign technicians.

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