Shruti Hassan has been barred by a Hyderabad court from accepting any assignment to act in a feature film before completion of shooting of an untitled southern movie till April 8. The film's producers initiated criminal and civil proceedings against the actress, as she apparently opted out after signing the agreement and sorting out the dates. The production house's spokesperson said, "We tried to reason with her and even suggested that she could shoot for 12-15 days instead of the agreed 20."

According to the company, Shruti had entered into an agreement with them to play the female lead in a bilingual film starring Telugu star Nagarjuna and Tamil actor Karthi in a film directed by Vamsi Paidipalli. The company alleged that the first schedule of shooting was over when Shruti sent an email stating that she wanted to exit the project.  The 'clash of dates' reason cited by her was a flimsy excuse, said Picture House Media in a statement, adding that the "unethical and unprofessional act" had caused them financial and reputation loss.

The firm added that it had initiated civil and criminal proceedings against Shruti and police had been asked to probe the matter.