A recently released big-budget pan-India film failed to perform as expected at the box office, and an interesting controversy is now doing the rounds in the film industry.
When the film was released, the makers claimed that the producer had recovered his investment and was safe. However, trade sources now say that the buyers suffered losses of around 20%.
According to industry gossip, the producer has still not paid the director’s full remuneration.
Sources say the director was promised Rs. 20 crore for the film. He received Rs. 8 crore during production. As the budget increased, the producer reportedly told him that the remaining Rs. 12 crore would be paid after the film completed its theatrical run.
Now, that payment is reportedly being withheld.
The buzz is that after the film failed to meet expectations, the producer told the director that he could not pay the remaining amount because the film was a loss venture.
The story does not end there. Industry insiders claim the director then approached the film’s hero for help. Instead of getting involved in the issue, the hero reportedly arranged a Rs. 2 crores advance for the director from another production house.
Many people in the industry see this as the hero trying to help the director without interfering in the financial dispute between the producer and the director.
Interestingly, while this was happening behind the scenes, another story started spreading on social media.
Several pages believed to be close to the director’s PR team claimed that the same hero had already agreed to do another film with the director. This created the impression that everything was normal between them.
Whether that project is really happening or whether those reports were spread to divert attention from the film’s poor box office performance is unclear.
So far, none of the people involved have commented on these reports. For now, the entire episode remains unverified industry gossip.
