MUMBAI: JP Dutta’s Umrao Jaan starring Abhishekh Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai is slated for a release on 3 November. However, the film has been marred by controversy as Rajtaru Studios Limited filed a case against Dutta for an amount of Rs 750,000, which has been due over a long period of time.

The Mumbai based post-production studio had asked for a stay on the film’s release but the Mumbai High Court has refused the stay order today (1 November). The next hearing is due for 8 November.

Rajtaru Studios’ Keval Sharma said, “J.P. Dutta has been delaying the payment by saying that his films are not doing well so he needed some time to clear the payments. But one fine day he said that he won’t make the payment. So I had to go to the Motion Pictures Studio Association from where I got an award from this arbitration body.”

“Before the release of Umrao Jaan I wanted an interim relief, which would be either the payment or a security letter,” he added. Sharma informed that Dutta has not settled the post production dues for his films Refugee and LOC-Kargil.

This case will in no way delay or stall the release of Umrao Jaan.

A spokesperson in Dutta’s camp said, “J.P. Dutta’s outstanding payments are a separate issue and have to be dealt with separately, without bringing Umrao Jaan into the picture.”